


Forsaken

by biaswreckingfics



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Idols, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Angst and Drama, Angst and Feels, Angst and Romance, Angst with a Happy Ending, Background Relationships, Complete, Drama, Drama & Romance, EXO - Freeform, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Relationships, F/M, Female Characters, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Happy Ending, Idol Park Chanyeol, Male-Female Friendship, My First Fanfic, My First Fanwork, My First Work in This Fandom, Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, POV Alternating, POV Female Character, POV Male Character, POV Original Character, POV Park Chanyeol, POV Second Person, Park Chanyeol Being an Asshole, Park Chanyeol-centric, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Platonic Relationships, Reader-Insert, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, The Author Regrets Nothing, Wordcount: 50.000-100.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-14 00:47:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 54,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28787427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/biaswreckingfics/pseuds/biaswreckingfics
Summary: Chanyeol and Y/N have been acting like a couple for years but had never made it “official”. That all changes when Chanyeol comes back from tour with a girlfriend. Tensions rise, friends fight, and hearts are broken in Forsaken.
Relationships: EXO Ensemble/Reader, Park Chanyeol & Original Female Character(s), Park Chanyeol & Reader, Park Chanyeol & You, Park Chanyeol/Original Female Character(s), Park Chanyeol/Reader, Park Chanyeol/You
Kudos: 17





	1. Prequel

“Let’s run the whole dance through one more time.”

You hear some sighs and giggle to yourself. You had been sitting in the practice room for 4 hours now with your best friend, Jia. The two of you had been watching the boys practice the dance for their new song that was about to come out, and it looked amazing. The song was super catchy, and a new concept for EXO and the dance was even better. All of the guys were amazing dancers, even though you knew only a couple were truly appreciated for it. You weren’t surprised that EXO’s dance was awesome. All of their dances awed and inspired you, as a dancer yourself.

You had been a dancer for years, even longer than you knew the boys of EXO. Your best friend, Jia, was also a dancer. It was how you two became friends at the age of 4. Your mothers putting both of you in classes before even attending school. You loved it. Dancing was how you expressed yourself. It made you feel free and forget the world for a while. You danced for fun, while Jia danced because she wanted to make a career out of it. That’s why Jia had become a trainee and why you hadn’t. Jia ended up training at the same time as the boys did, which was how you all met, and here you were, 7 years later.

The boys respected your opinions and often asked you to come to dance practice when they were figuring out new routines. You two always showed up to offer your thoughts and support.

As you watched the boys practice, you noticed Chanyeol kept messing up this one part of the dance that had some complicated footwork, and he was getting more frustrated by the second.

“I can’t get this one move down!” Chanyeol growled in frustration.

Jongin started to walk over to the tall boy, “Here, let me help yo- “.

“Not you, Y/N, come here.” Chanyeol interrupts the younger boy.

“Chan, Jongin is right there, and he’s offering his help”, you reply.

“Yeah, but I want yours instead”.

You look over at Chan, who was giving you big, puppy eyes, then over to Jongin who was shaking his head at the older boy.

“Do you want me to start begging? Cause if that’s what it takes...”

“As fun as that would be to see, Y/N, just- “, Baekhyun had started to say until Sehun interrupted him.

“No, let him beg, Y/N. I could use some entertainment.”

“Yah! Why don’t you go fix that one move in the middle that you keep messing up!” Chanyeol bit back.

Sehun looked surprised. “Me? That’s cute. We both know I can dance this in my sleep.”

“You can also…”, Chanyeol started to say something, but you had tuned them out and looked around the room. Minseok, Soo, Yixing, and Baek went to go get drinks of water, each of the boys looking exhausted. Jongin and Jongdae stood to the side watching the two giants bicker. You glanced at Junmyeon, and you could see on his face that he was wondering if he should let them continue or get them refocused. He must’ve made up his mind because he looked back at you for help.

You sighed and stood up, “OKAY! I will help you with it this time, Chan, but only if we can call it a day and get food.”

Jia piped up behind you, “Oh, I am so down with that plan.”

The boys all quickly agreed because they were just as done with this practice as you were. Kyungsoo, Jongdae, and Minseok decided to leave early and go get food for everyone, while Sehun stayed behind just to watch you and Chan.

You were attempting to show Chanyeol how to do the move the easiest way, but he just kept goofing around. He would either poke you or grab your arm in the middle of the turn, and you were quickly getting annoyed.

You sigh, “Chan, if you’re just gonna keep messing around, I’m going to stop helping you.”

“But, Y/N, I love touching you. I can’t help myself”, he replies while giving you a heated look.

“Then I guess Sehun or Yixing should show you, so you can focus”, you respond with a roll of your eyes.

Chanyeol quickly grabs your arm. “No, I’m sorry. Keep going, I’ll do better.”

You stared at the taller boy, wondering if he was serious. You got lost studying his face. Looking at his almond-shaped eyes, his plump lips, the cute dimple on his cheek. Man, was he beautiful. You didn’t realize how long you had been staring until Chanyeol leaned forward and whispered your name. You blinked a few times and looked around the room. Sehun was smirking off to the side, and Jia was snickering behind her hand. You clear your throat.

“Okay, let’s go through the move a couple of times.”

After another 10 minutes, Chan felt like he could do the move better.

Grabbing your hand, he said, “Come on. Let’s go back to the apartment and eat some food.”

You nod, solely focusing on his bigger hand holding your smaller one. His hands were always soft and warm. He tugs you over to where everyone had thrown their bags, and you know Jia had been watching you two the whole time. You knew this because when you looked up at her, she waggled her eyebrows at you. You roll your eyes, grab her arm, and follow the boys out of the building. The boys were walking ahead of you and Jia, so naturally, she used this time to tease you about Chan.

Jia leaned over, “When are you gonna go for it?! You both like each other, and anyone with eyes can see it!” She was whispering but yelling at the same time. It was amazing that the girl was always so loud.

“Jia! Shh! Chan and I are happy with how things are.”

“You mean acting like a couple, but without the title?”

“Yes, we’re both fine with it.”

Jia looked at you then said, “Bull. You want more. I can see it every time you look at him. The random make-out sessions you two have are not enough to keep you happy.”

Jia was absolutely right. You loved whatever relationship you and Chanyeol had, but you wanted to be his girlfriend. You wanted to really be with Chan, not just be a girl he occasionally made out with. Even if the making out was extremely hot.

As you were thinking about what Jia said, Baek slowed down to let you two catch up, causing all the boys to slow down.

“What are you two talking about back here?”

Jia smiled, “Her mad love for Chanyeol.”

“Jia!” you look at the girl in shock.

“Oh, everyone knows anyways”, she replies.

You wanted to deck the girl, but she was right, like always. The group of guys around you knew how you and Chan were. You looked at Junmyeon, who was giving you a knowing smile. Chanyeol walked over to you and threw his arm around your shoulder.

He leans down towards you, winks, and whispers, “I like you too.”

Good lord, this man was gonna be the death of you. You just knew it.

When you got back to the apartment, everyone pigged out. You were all scattered around the living room as the boys excitedly discussed the new album. You knew the album was going to be great, and you were just as excited as they were.

After you were done eating, Chanyeol came and sat with you in the chair. He wrapped his arms around you, so you leaned back into his embrace. You were always so comfortable in his lap, almost like you were made to be there, as lame as that sounds. You quietly watch Soo and Minseok leave to clean up the mess that was made in the kitchen, while Jongdae trailed behind to help.

Sehun, who was sitting on the couch watching you and Chan, said, “How come you two aren’t official yet?”

You felt Chanyeol tense underneath you, “Yah! Sehun! How come you don’t have a girlfriend yet?!”

“I’m serious, hyung. Everyone in this room knows you two like each other. You always act like a couple, so why not?”

As Sehun was talking, you let your mind wander. How come you weren’t a couple? You really liked Chan, and you knew he liked you, but he never asked to be with you. You were happy with the dynamic the two of you had, but has he not asked you because he doesn’t want a real relationship with you? You knew Chan, sometimes better than he knew himself, but this you didn’t understand.

You started to think about what it would be like to be his girlfriend. He is a big goofball, and he has one of the biggest hearts. You know he’d treat his girlfriend like a princess, always trying to take care of her and giving her attention. Chanyeol would make an amazing boyfriend.

Later on, you and Chanyeol had decided to go sit on the balcony. It was a beautiful night, so why not. You had been thinking about what Sehun had said and decided to ask Chan about it.

“Hey Chan..”, you look over at him to see him watching you, “How come you haven’t asked me to be your girlfriend?”

Chanyeol sighs, “Y/N, it’d just be easier on both of us if we weren’t together.”

All you could do was blink at him, confused. He must’ve realized that didn’t come out how he wanted it to, because then he said, “It’s hard to date an idol. I’m always gonna be gone or busy, for long periods of time, and I don’t want to do that to you. You don’t deserve that... Plus, it’d be hard on me too... Not being able to talk to you or see you, that’d hurt me. It’s better for me if I just stay single.”

You thought about what he said. You knew he was right. You’ve seen it happen before with Jongin, but that didn’t stop the selfish part of you from being hurt. You wanted to be more with Chan, but you also wanted to respect his wishes.

You felt a nudge on your arm, and look over at Chanyeol. He looked slightly worried about what you were going to say.

“Are we okay?

You take in his worried face and immediately want to comfort him. “Of course we are. Always.”

He smiles, and you can tell he was relieved. Then his smile faltered.

“Speaking of going away, we’re leaving for tour in a week. We’re going to be gone for 3 months, at least.”

You knew it was coming. They’re idols, of course, they’re gonna tour, but you always got sad whenever it was time for them to go.

You knew it was selfish to ask, but you couldn’t help it. “Promise me you’ll contact me as much as you can...”

“It might be in the middle of the night for you. I don’t want to wake you up.”

“Chan, I don’t care what time it is here... if you can contact me, please try to... I’m going to miss you so much...”

Chanyeol pulls you into his body and gives you a warm hug. “I promise. I’m going to miss you more than you know. I’m gonna call and text you all of the time.”

After that, you both decide to head back inside, where you make the other boys promise to keep in touch too.

Baekhyun loudly says from the couch, “Of course we will! Who else am I gonna send funny pictures too?!”

“And who’s gonna offer you advice when you do something careless?” Junmyeon pipes up next to Baek.

You look at him with mocked outrage. “I do not do anything care- “

“It’s a joke!” Myeon grins at you from his seat.

“You know I’m gonna text you whenever the hyungs do something dumb”, Sehun smirks at you, “So, expect a text at least twice a day.”

You laugh, as Jongin throws his empty water bottle at Sehun, who throws his arm up to deflect it.

“What?! We do it all of the time?!”

Jongdae and Minseok join in with Jongin and throw couch pillows at the maknae.

“We laugh about you guys a lot.”

“Sehun! Shut it!” you yell at the younger boy, but it was too late. Minseok threw a pillow at you too, at the same time as Kyungsoo walked behind Sehun and smacked him in the back of the head.

Jongin tries to bring back the peace like he wasn’t the first one to throw something. “Of course we're all gonna keep in touch. Right?” he says, sending a pointed look towards you and Jia.

“Hey, we’re not going anywhere! You guys are. We’re gonna be here patiently waiting for your return.” You nod your head, agreeing with Jia.

Baekhyun snorts. “Can you two even be patient?”

Junmyeon laughs, agreeing, “Yeah, that’s something I’d like to see.”

You bend down and pick up the pillow that was previously thrown at you, and throw it at Baekhyun, as Jia gasps behind you in outrage.

After being hit with the pillow, Baekhyun points at Junmyeon and yells, "Yah! He agreed!"


	2. Prequel (Chanyeol's POV)

He was about to lose it. He was over this practice and over this freaking dance. He knew he wasn’t the greatest dancer, but he did his absolute best every time, and it frustrated him whenever it took him a little longer to figure out a move. What made it worse was that you were there. You weren’t even watching him half of the time, but he still wanted to impress you. That’s what made him even more frustrated. He could easily do the first part, but when the jump turn came, he kept landing off balance.

Finally, he was over it, “I can’t get this one move down!”

He saw Jongin coming towards him out of the corner of his eye, “Here, let me help yo- “

“Not you. Y/N, come here.” He felt bad for interrupting the boy who was only trying to help him, but he wanted your attention at the moment. You tried getting out of it, but he had zero intentions of letting that happen. “Do you want me to start begging? Cause if that’s what it takes…”

“As fun as that would be to see, Y/N, just – “, Baekhyun had started. He looked exhausted, and Chanyeol could tell he wanted to go home.

“No, let him beg Y/N. I could use some entertainment.”

Sehun always wanted to be a little shit. “Yah! Why don’t you go fix that one move in the middle that you keep messing up!” Okay, so maybe he wasn’t the best at comebacks.

“Me? That’s cute. We both know I can dance this in my sleep.”

Chanyeol rolled his eyes, “You can also go screw yourself.”

“Did I hurt your feelings hyung?” Sehun was giving Chanyeol a pouty face, and Chanyeol was about to strangle him. He was not in the mood for playful teasing. At least not with Sehun. You, however…

“Okay! I will help you with it this one time, Chan, but only if we can call it a day and get food.” You looked so cute when you were annoyed. Your eyebrows always quirked, and your nose would scrunch up just a tiny bit. You were too far away for him to really see if that was happening, but he knew it was. He studied your features every chance he got.

It took all of two minutes for Chanyeol to be distracted by you. He tried, he really tried to focus on the dance, but he couldn’t. He had to touch you when you were this close. He couldn’t help himself. It was like a weird pull that he couldn’t fight. Not that he really wanted to anyway.

“Chan, if you’re just gonna keep messing around, I’m gonna stop helping you.”

“But, Y/N, I love touching you, I can’t help myself.” He knew you were getting flustered because the tips of your ears started to turn pink. As soon as you threatened to have someone else help him, he quit messing around and got down to business.

After practice, everyone was walking back to the apartment. Chanyeol, who was having a conversation with Sehun, overheard Baekhyun’s voice asking you what you were talking about. He slowed down with everyone else and waited for the two girls to catch up.

“Oh, her mad love for Chan.” Jia, your best friend, said nonchalantly. He could see the shock on your face, but he didn’t know why. He already knew you liked him. The two of you have gotten pretty hot and heavy more times than he could count.

The truth was, he liked you too. A lot. Too much, actually. He had a crush on you for so long. The first time the two of you kissed, he thought his heart was literally gonna stop, and he would drop dead on the floor. You were the most perfect person he had ever laid eyes on. Not that you would ever agree with that.

Chanyeol walked back to where you were standing and put his arm around your shoulders. He leaned down and whispered, “I like you too.” He threw in a wink because he knew it would throw you off. It always did, and when he felt you jolt under his arm, he grinned. He loved the way you reacted to him.

Back at the apartment, Chanyeol had gone and sat with you, wrapping his arms around you in the process. He loved the way you fit his body. If he was cliché enough, he would say that you two were made for each other.

Sehun’s voice dragged Chanyeol out of his thoughts, “How come you two aren’t official yet?”

“Yah! Sehun! How come you don’t have a girlfriend yet?!” Wow, he had to work on his comebacks. It was slightly embarrassing.

“I’m serious hyung. Everyone in this room knows you two like each other. You always act like a couple, so why not?”

Chanyeol had gone quiet. Why not? He just couldn’t... You meant so much to him, and if he ever messed that up, he thought he might die. You deserved to be treated like a queen, and while Chanyeol would never treat you like you were anything less, he wasn’t always around. That was another big problem. He was an idol, and though he knew you would understand that he was gone a lot, he felt like you didn’t truly understand what you would be getting into.

There was a reason why idols rarely stayed in relationships for long periods of time. It was just too hard on everyone involved.

Later on, Chanyeol noticed you walk out onto the balcony, and like usual, he followed you.

“Hey Chan”, Chanyeol looked over at your voice, “How come you haven’t asked me to be your girlfriend?” He sighs, damn it, Sehun.

“Y/N, it’d just be easier on both of us if we weren’t together.” Seeing the look on your face, he realized how wrong that came out. He sounded like an asshole, so he had to explain.

“It’s hard to date an idol. I’m always gonna be gone or busy for long periods of time, and I don’t want to do that to you. You don’t deserve that... Plus, it’d be hard on me too... Not being able to talk to you or see you, that’d hurt me. It’s better for me if I just stay single.”

The look on your face, as you thought over what he said, killed him. He almost wanted to take it all back, but he knew this was for the best. Or he hoped anyway.

He nudged you to get you out of your thoughts, “Are we okay?”

You smiled at him, “Of course we are. Always.”


	3. Part 1

The boys had been gone for a couple of months now, and the tour was going great from the looks of it. The fans had heard the new album and were obsessed. You were also obsessed, though, so you couldn’t blame them. You often watched their performances online and always looked at the fan-made gifsets. It was a guilty pleasure. The boys seemed to be having a lot of fun and looked like they were staying healthy. Not that you would know, since you hadn’t heard from most of them in a month.

You were sad but tried to understand it from their perspective. After promises to stay in touch, throughout the days, you realized how unrealistic it was. The boys were always busy and exhausted, and being in different time zones meant fleeting conversations through text. Phone call attempts were made, but they usually ended up in “can’t talk” or “gotta go”. In the past two months, you had mainly only heard from Baekhyun, Sehun, and Junmyeon. Chanyeol would sometimes text you, but hardly. You didn’t understand why, since you two would usually text on and off all day.

At the end of the three months, you hadn’t heard from any of them. Neither had Jia. You sometimes would send a text or meme to let them know you were thinking about them, but they were never responded to. When the boys came back, they had interviews and variety shows that needed to be done, and SM wanted them to start a new album almost immediately. You missed them so much, it would sometimes make you cry. There had never been a time where you had gone this long without talking. These boys were your brothers, and in his absence, you had come to realize you loved Chanyeol. You didn’t want to be away from him anymore. Jia and yourself had thought about stopping by their apartment multiple times, but in the end, decided that would be rude.

-Six months later-

You were staring blankly at the window, not paying attention to much, besides the warm coffee in your hands. Jia had been saying something, but you honestly hadn’t heard a single thing she said. You were watching the snow fall peacefully outside. You hated it but had to admit it was pretty.

“Y/N. Have you heard anything I’ve said the past 20 minutes?”

You stare at Jia for a second and then guiltily admit you hadn’t. She sighs and stares at you for a moment.

“I’m guessing you still haven’t heard from him?” The him she was referring to was Park Chanyeol.

“Nope”, you reply. “At this point, I don’t really expect to anymore.”

“I just don’t understand what the hell happened?” Jia says, “Jongin and Jongdae have finally started texting me again.”

You nod. You had heard from Baek, Sehun, and Myeon here and there. They were updating you on big things, like awards and such. Their company had been keeping them so busy that they barely had time to relax.

When you had got the first text from Baek, you couldn’t contain your enthusiasm. Then Sehun and Myeon... You thought the next would be Chanyeol, but he sometimes left you on “read”. He never responded, and that really hurt. Especially when you knew he had seen the message and didn’t care to respond. You were worried about him.

You were also worried about another boy. Poor Yixing was damn near killing himself. He had been working between Korea and China non-stop and was having issues with his health. You wanted to hurt someone for the way he was being treated, but he kept reassuring you he was okay.

Jia brought you back to the present when she said, “I’m assuming you’ve seen the newest article?”

You nod again. Of course, you saw it. You’ve been trying to stay up to date on EXO news while they were away on tour and ever since they came back.

For the past couple of months, there had been articles about Chanyeol, and this girl that was rumored to be his girlfriend. This newest article made three.

The first article was about him and her walking down a street together, looking like a “couple”. A couple of weeks later, there was an article about them at a café together. You just assumed (hoped) she was an EXO manager or stylist, something.

This third article was about the two of them shopping. You thought, big deal? Until you realized they were shopping in a girl's clothing store. You admitted that was a little odd, but you still knew the rumors people loved to spread. When it came to EXO, it was big news.

Jia must’ve been on the same wavelength as you because she then said, “You know how the media loves to make stuff up. Especially romantic stuff.”

“Yeah, that’s what I’ve been thinking.”

Not worrying about it, you pulled out your phone and brought up Instagram, your latest favorite platform.

“I’m gonna go get a refill, you want?”

“Please.” You respond, not even looking up when she takes off.

When Jia comes back, she hands you your warm drink. Just as she was about to say something, your eyes land on a picture, and your heart stops. The next thing you know, your lap is burning, and Jia is yelling your name. You look down realizing you had just spilled your coffee all over your lap. Quickly jumping up, you wipe yourself off and smile at the customers staring at you.

Jia’s voice suddenly comes back to your ears. “Jesus Christ, are you okay?!”

You nod your head still dazed, but Jia continues yelling, “What the hell was that about, you klutz?!”

Dazed, you pull the picture back up and examine it again. It was a picture Chanyeol had uploaded 45 minutes before. It was of him and the girl who was his rumored girlfriend. His arms were wrapped around her body, and he was kissing her.

From what you could see, she was absolutely gorgeous, and you wanted to throw your phone far away from you, so you didn’t have to look at the picture of them anymore. Suddenly, feeling nauseous, you drop back into your seat.

You hadn’t even realized Jia came up behind you to see what had you freaking out until you hear a “holy crap”. She was quiet for a few seconds and walked back to her seat. Once she sat down, she asked if you were okay.

Finally pulling your eyes away from the picture, you stare at Jia, “No… who is she?”

“I’ve never seen her before… but I guess the rumors were true…” You sat there in disbelief.

“I mean… we haven’t talked in like eight months, so it’s not like I have any claim over him.”

Jia, who always tried to look at the positive side of things, says, “Maybe she’s a cousin or something?”

You give her a look that lets her know that was the stupidest thing she had said all day. “Jia. Do you kiss your cousins like that?”

She stutters, “Well… no, but- “

“But nothing.”

After another minute, you decide you have to find out who she is. You pull up your contacts and go straight to the B’s.

You: Baek… who is she?

After a minute, you see that Baek had read the message. The three dots pop up, and your heart starts pounding. This is it. You’re gonna find out if this girl is who she’s rumored to be. You wait, and then… nothing. The dots disappear.

You stare at your phone, “Are you serious?”

Jia, who was as invested in his response as you were, leans over to look at your phone. “What??”

“He read it, and was about to respond, then he stopped.”

Jia sits there for a moment, then says, “I’m texting Jongin.”

“Please don’t. I don’t want them all to think I’m obsessed or something.”

“Y/N, no one is gonna think your- “

DING.

Jia immediately stops talking, and you stop breathing. Working up the courage, you pull the text up.

Baek: Y/N, that’s Chanyeol’s girlfriend, Daeun… They’ve been together for three months now…


	4. Part 2

That’s Chanyeol’s girlfriend… they’ve been together for three months now…

That message continuously repeated itself over and over in your head. Chanyeol has a girlfriend.

Park Chanyeol has a girlfriend.

Park Chanyeol, who told you that he didn’t want a girlfriend because it would be hard on him.

Park Chanyeol, who said it’d be better for him if he was single.

That stupid, big-eared, giant.

You were angry. You were hurt. You felt abandoned? Did he stop talking to you because he met her? How did he meet her? Was it instant attraction?

After you had gotten home from the café, you did what any normal girl would do. You stalked her social media. You had hoped to see a party girl or anything that’d make her seem like a bad person. Instead, what you found was nothing but a nice, innocent-seeming girl, of course.

You didn’t know why you were upset. You and Chanyeol hadn’t talked in months. Did you expect him to come back, and everything would go back to normal? You hoped… but you knew that wasn’t realistic. However, every other time they had gone on tour, they came back, and everything had gone back to the way it was... For some reason, this time was different. You just needed to put on your big girl panties and tell your heart to get over it. Ha. Okay.

DING.

Baek: Are you free today? Like in an hour?

Were you free? Yes. Did you want to see anyone? No.

DING.

Baek: Y/N… please… I miss you. We haven’t seen each other in months. Let’s go to lunch. It’ll be just you and me…

DING.

Baek: It’ll be just you, me, and Sehun, apparently.

DING.

Sehun: I will drag you out of that apartment.

You read Sehun’s text just as you were taking a drink. You managed to choke on laughter and spill your drink at the same time. Oh Sehun. That boy. You did miss them. They were your best friends. Sehun was the little brother you didn’t know you wanted, and Baekhyun had been there for you through everything.

You grab your phone and reply to both men.

You: Okay… count me in.

An hour later, you were walking into a beautiful restaurant, a few blocks away from your apartment. You told the hostess that you were meeting two friends, and she let you know that they were already there. You followed her to the table, and when you spotted the two beautiful boys, your heart started pounding in your chest. Holy crap did you miss them. Both were dressed in all black, wearing black baseball hats, probably trying to look incognito but failing slightly. When they spotted you, they broke out into giant grins.

When you got to the table, Sehun jumped up and gave you a giant bear hug, “Y/N! I missed you!”

You hug him back tightly, “I missed you too, Hunnie!”

You then pull away and turn towards Baekhyun, who was standing behind you smiling. He grabs you by the waist and pulls you into a hug.

“Y/N, you look just as gorgeous as the last time I saw you.” He pulls back and winks at you. All you could do was smile. You were so happy.

You all sat down at the round table, and before they could bring you up, you ask, “How have you guys been?”

As you talked, you examined the two men. Baekhyun had a fresh face and was trying to keep smiling, but you could see bags under his eyes. Sehun, who had model looks when he woke up, had tired eyes as well.

“You guys look exhausted! Are you getting any rest?”

Baekhyun began to say, “Of course we are- “

“Don’t lie to me, Baek. You guys look like you’re going to collapse.”

“It’s not that bad!” Sehun grunts, calling out your slight over-exaggeration.

“There’s just a lot going on”, Baekhyun states. “But now that our interviews are mainly done, and we don’t have any more appearances for a while, we can get some rest.”

“Well, good. I don’t like seeing you like this.”

Sehun, trying to comfort you, quietly replies, “It’s part of the job, little one.”

Little one. The nickname the boys gave you when you were younger. They told you they were the only ones allowed to call you it. You thought it was silly but happily agreed. You haven’t heard someone call you little one in nearly nine months. It went right to your heart, and you almost got teary-eyed.

Baekhyun quietly asks, “How have you been?”

They both look at you with worried expressions. With everything they’ve been enduring, you didn’t want to make it about you. You put a smile on your face and say, “I’ve been fine. Busy with dance, work, and whatever crazy idea Jia has come up with.”

“Y/N… come on…” Baekhyun responds, clearly not believing you.

“What? I’m serious. Do you know what she made me do last week?”

Sehun, wanting to let you know they weren’t buying it, ignores you. “Y/N. You can talk to us. It’s okay.”

You look at the two boys who were waiting for your response. Do you tell them the truth?

“Honestly, I’ve just missed you guys way too much. I’ve hardly talked to any of you. I know you’ve been busy, and I really try to understand that, so it’s okay.”

Baek, going straight to the point, quietly asks, “What about Chanyeol?”

You close your eyes as his name comes out of Baekhyun’s mouth. You quietly reply, “If he’s happy, that’s all that matters.”

They were both silent for a moment, and then Sehun startles you.

“Bullshit.”

“Seh- “

“Y/N, you’re not okay with it. I know you. Hell, I’m not even okay with it.”

What Sehun said had shocked you, “What?”

“I don’t like her.”

Baekhyun sighs, “It’s not that you don’t like her, it’s the situation you don’t like.”

Sehun counters back with, “No, I’m pretty sure it’s her.”

You had to ask, “Why? Did she do something?”

Sehun mutters, “No, not yet.” Then more clearly, “She’s not you.”

“Sehun- “

“Y/N, you’ve been in love with Chanyeol for how long? I can see it when you look at him, as cliché as that sounds.”

“He’s right. We both thought it’d be you and Chanyeol. Daeun came out of nowhere.” Baekhyun agrees with the younger man.

You look down at your lap. “How did they meet?”

Baekhyun is the one who answers you. “One of the variety shows that we did. She was working behind the scenes. They met, and Chanyeol was instantly smitten.”

You felt your eyes start to burn. Instantly smitten… He fell for her as soon as she looked at him, like some stupid romance movie. He had never been smitten with you. It was years before Chanyeol and you started acting like you liked each other. Were you not good enough?

Baekhyun, interrupting your thoughts, says, “Stop. I see where your head is going.”

“Does she treat him well?”

Sehun, again muttering, “So far.”

Baekhyun then asks, “What has he said to you about it?”

You jerk your eyes up and look between the two. “Chan hasn’t talked to me since two months into the tour…”

Both of their mouths drop open. Then Baekhyun says, “What?” While Sehun growls, “Are you fucking serious?”

You slowly nod your head, “Like I said, I haven’t talked to you guys.”

Baekhyun was the first to recover from the shock. “We thought Chanyeol was still talking to you…”

“I’m gonna beat him”, Sehun angrily says.

Baekhyun, stopping him before he could say anything else, “Sehun.”

“What? I don’t care if he’s older. He literally just dropped her? After the way they were with each other?”

You interrupt him before he can say anything else. “It doesn’t matter. He’s moved on, so obviously I need to do the same.”

“You’ve been in love with him forever. It’s not gonna be that easy.” Baekhyun reminds you.

As he had been speaking, Sehun was just giving you the “are you for real?” look.

“What do the other guys think of her?”

“Minseok, Kyungsoo, and Jongdae love her.”

Sehun, interrupts Baekhyun, “Only because they somehow haven’t figured out you like him.”

Baekhyun, continuing like Sehun didn’t even speak, “The rest of us are more guarded. She is a super nice girl, though.”

Sehun, again, “He means they tolerate her. I don’t even bother with her.”

You give Sehun a small smile. Sehun was always loyal to you, even when you were in the wrong. He would absolutely let you know you were wrong but stand by you, regardless.

Baekhyun must’ve decided that it was time to change the subject. “Let’s move on to a happier note.”

“Like what?”

The boys half shout, “Your birthday!”

That’s right. Your birthday was less than a month away, but this year you didn’t feel like celebrating. “Guys, I don’t want to do anything for my birthday.”

Baekhyun stops you, “Not acceptable.”

“I’m thinking a mini personal party.” Sehun contemplates.

“We celebrate our birthdays together every chance we can,” Baekhyun says.

“Just invite close friends and have a chill night.” Sehun continues.

“Please, let us do this for you,” Baek pleads.

You couldn’t help but laugh. The boys seemed like they were talking together, but they were really having two different conversations. Shutting them both up, you say, “Alright, let’s do it.”

Both boys excitedly launch into a conversation about what they should do. Before they got too far, you stopped them, “You have to let Junmyeon help you, though.” This way, he could keep some type of control over the two boys. Who knew what they would come up with. To your relief, they both agreed.

The next three weeks, things felt almost back to normal. Besides work and hanging out with Jia, you spent a lot of time with the boys. You were often dancing with Sehun and sometimes Jongin, going to the movies with Junmyeon, and doing various things with Baekhyun. You didn’t realize how much you missed this life with them and how much you needed it. The only thing that was wrong was the lack of Chanyeol in your life. You missed him, no matter how much you didn’t want to. He had ended up being your second half, and his absence made it feel like a part of you was missing, even if it had been months since you talked. You felt kind of stupid feeling this way.

The boys had invited Chanyeol to your birthday. You weren’t mad. You knew it’d be awkward for them if they didn’t. You were excited to see him, but the thought of seeing him also made you want to throw up. How would he act? Would he talk to you? Would he bring Daeun? Did she even know who you were?

You felt an entire range of emotions, everything from nervous to excited. This would be interesting.


	5. Part 3

“Are you ready yet?!” Jia yells from the living room.

“I’m almost done!”

“What else could you possibly have – “ she starts to complain as she comes around the corner into the bedroom. You look over and see her eyes widen when she catches sight of you. “Woah mama, you look hot!”

You giggle at your best friend and turn to look in the mirror. The short, black dress you were wearing flowed out at the rib cage, making your waist appear slimmer. You had thrown on a simple pair of black heels that made your legs look fantastic and a gold, dainty necklace. Finishing the look, you decided to leave your hair down in messy waves and put on a slightly dark eye look. You looked good, and you felt good too. Secretly, you couldn’t wait until Chanyeol saw you. You wanted him to eat his “it’s better if I don’t have a girlfriend” words.

“You look like a badass. Me like.” Jia gives you her approval, and now you were feeling extra good.

“You look good too!” You say, examining your best friend. She looked EXTRA good... “Are you trying to impress someone?”

Jia had on a short, baby blue dress that hugged her curves and white heels. Her long, brown hair was slightly curled, and she had a little bit of makeup on her face. She truly looked great.

“Yeah right,” she responds, looking away from you. “Who would I be trying to impress?”

You stare at her for a second longer, not believing a single word coming out of her mouth. You decided in that moment to watch her throughout the night and see who she hung around. You had a feeling you knew who, but you wanted to be sure before saying something.

“Let’s go, you don’t want to be late for your own party! …Or maybe you should be?”

You both decide you don’t really want to wait and head over to the banquet room the boys managed to rent out. It was in a building that was only a few places over from theirs, so you had a rough idea of where you would be going.

When you arrived, it seemed like mostly everyone was there. The EXO boys, a few coworkers, some dancer friends, and their plus-ones. Glancing around the room, you were in awe. It was beautiful. The boys decorated the room in blushes and golds. There were giant balloons scattered throughout the room and glitter on every surface imaginable, which you instantly knew the cleanup company would hate.

You felt arms wrap around you from behind, and you glance back to see that Baekhyun had found you first.

“You look absolutely beautiful,” he says smiling. You smile back and begin appreciating the outfit he was wearing. He had on a blue dress shirt with his hair a little messy, and dear god, did he look attractive.

“Thanks, Baek.” You turn to Sehun who had come up next and give him a hug. Sehun had on a black shirt that made the angles of his face stand out. How did you get so lucky to be around two of the most gorgeous guys you’ve ever seen?

“You know, I always thought of you as a sister… but I feel like I might rethink that,” Sehun says with a wink.

You hear Baekhyun yell from behind you, “Yah! Quit being creepy!”

“I am not being creepy,” Sehun rolls his eyes.

Baekhyun being Baekhyun immediately started to imitate Sehun until Sehun pushed him away.

“Look at you and Jia, you both look gorgeous.”

You turn to see Junmyeon standing behind you and give him a big hug. Myeon always looked stylish and tonight was no exception. He had on a black and white striped dress shirt that you were pretty sure was his go-to dress-up outfit. You take in his warm, comforting scent with a smile. He was always like an older brother to you. He looked out for you and took care of you, just as much as he did with the EXO boys.

“You all look so amazing!” You scan each one of the boys while you all stood in a circle off to the side of the room. You knew if their fans saw them dressed up like this, they’d all have heart attacks. It was a wonder you were still standing yourself. “The party looks amazing. Very casual and low key…” You give Junmyeon a questioning look at the last part of your sentence.

He smiles at you, “They actually didn’t want to do anything too crazy, surprisingly. Well… no… Baekhyun wanted to do something kind of weird.”

“It was not weird, hyung!”

“It was kind of weird.” Sehun joins in.

As you turn to look at Sehun, movement behind him catches your eyes. You peak around him, and that’s when you saw a cute, Chinese boy running towards you.

“Yixing!” You yell excitedly.

As soon as he could reach you, he grabs you and spins you, “Happy birthday, little one!”

You giggle and hug him back as tight as you could. Besides Baekhyun and Jia, Yixing was your closest friend. He was one of the kindest and sweetest people you’ve ever met, and he would drop everything to help someone he cared about.

“Xing, I missed you so much!”

“I missed you too! How have you been?” He puts you down and examines you. You take the opportunity to do the same. He had on a deep purple shirt and the normal black dress pants, and that was when you realized that purple was SO his color. Then again, all colors were his color.

“Fine, but how have you been?? What are you doing here? Please tell me you’re resting!”

“I’m fine. I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.” He tries to brush you off.

“Yeah, okay, like that’ll ever happen.” You already knew you were going to get him alone at some point tonight and make sure he was doing okay. You just had to wait for an opportunity.

The other boys had wandered over to say happy birthday to you and to welcome Yixing home. You take a moment to take everything in. You were happy and surrounded by people who cared about you. You look around the room at everyone that showed up and try to truly comprehend that these people were here for you.

Unfortunately, you just happen to glance at the door when an incredibly handsome man walked in, with a beautiful girl by his side. Park Chanyeol had arrived.

From your right, you hear Jia say, “Holy shit”, which causes the boys to turn and see what had caught your attention. Chanyeol had on a deep red dress shirt, with his hair slightly parted, showing a little bit of his forehead. He looked so good that it caused a physical pain in your chest that you did your best to ignore. Daeun stood next to him wearing a matching colored flowy dress. They looked amazing separate, and even better together.

“Really? They’re matching? Yuck.”

“Jia, be nice.” You hear Junmyeon quietly scold Jia.

“That’s as nice as I’m feeling right now. She’s – “

“Gorgeous.” You interrupt Jia.

The group turns and looks at you. Jia was looking at you like you were crazy, while Sehun rolls his eyes and looks back at the pair. Yixing and Junmyeon had sad looks on their faces, and Baekhyun looked annoyed.

“Well, she is. I’m not going to pretend she’s not.”

She was smaller than you imagined she would be. She had a petite body. Her face was heart-shaped, and she had almond-shaped eyes, just like Chanyeol. She wore her hair straight, just past her shoulders, and she was really pretty. You were staring so long that you didn’t even notice her and Chanyeol were heading straight towards you. Were you breathing? You weren’t sure.

Yixing leans over and whispers in your ear, “Breathe.”

Well. That answered that question.

“Y/N! Happy birthday!”

You were startled to hear your name come from such a deep voice. You almost forgot what he sounded like. Almost. Before you knew it, you were wrapped in his arms and had never felt more awkward. He lets you go and smiles down at you. His eyes sparkled, his cheeks were healthy-looking, and his cute dimple was out like usual. He looked happy.

“Hey… thanks Chanyeol…” you awkwardly say.

“There’s someone I wanted you to meet!” He turns towards the girl behind him and pulls her toward the group. “This is my girlfriend, Daeun.”

You couldn’t help but notice how silent everyone around you had gone. You looked at Daeun, and she was giving you a small smile, waiting for you to say something.

You put on the politest face you can muster and introduce yourself. “Hello, I’m Y/N.”

“Hello, happy birthday.” Her voice was so light sounding, a complete contrast to Chanyeol’s.

“Thank you.” You didn’t know what else to say after that, so you said nothing.

Chanyeol took the quiet as an opportunity to talk to you. “How have you been?! I haven’t seen you in forever!”

You look at Chanyeol dumbfounded. You fought the urge to scoff and say, “no shit”. Instead, you put on a happy face and prepared to lie through your teeth.

“I’ve never been better,” you say. “How about you?”

“I’ve been great, thanks. We should get together and catch up sometime! Well, we’re gonna go say hello to the other guys.”

“It was nice meeting you.” Daeun politely says.

“You too.”

You watch as they walk away, severely wanting to throw something at the back of Chanyeol’s head. Replaying what he had said in your head was only hurting you more. He had acted like you two were just old friends who occasionally ran into each other. Like you weren’t acting like a couple just months before, spending all your time together, cuddling, and sharing secrets that no one else knew.

“Is he fucking serious?” Jia angrily shouts from beside you. Breaking out of your daze, you look over at her, and note that she looked like she wanted to throw something at him too.

“I can’t believe him,” Sehun says, shocked.

You looked at the other boys. Junmyeon looked shocked also. Baekhyun looked angry, and Yixing was looking at you.

Yixing reaches down and grabs your hand. “Come sit on the balcony with me.” Nodding, you let Yixing pull you outside.

As soon as you get outside, you take a deep breath. Yixing was quiet for a moment, letting you process what just happened. What the hell did just happen? Did he really act like everything was perfectly okay?

“Talk to me…”

You look up at Yixing and ask him the first thing that came to your mind. “Did that really just happen like I think it did?” He nods. “I don’t even know what to say…”

“Are you okay?”

You shake your head and feel a tear spill down your cheek. No, you were absolutely not okay. Yixing pulls you into his arms, rubbing your back as you silently cry on his shoulder. Chanyeol acted like you were nothing but an old friend. He didn’t even see the hurt or feel the awkwardness like he would’ve before… And Daeun… Daeun is so pretty. No one you could ever compare to.

“It’s gonna be okay… I know it doesn’t feel like it but trust me.” Yixing says soothingly.

An overwhelming feeling of guilt washed over you. This was your first time seeing Yixing in months, and the man was comforting you. You needed to quit crying. This is your birthday party, and you were gonna have a good time. You can be sad later when you were home alone. You wipe your face and pull away from Yixing. He gives you a small smile and wipes the makeup smeared under your eyes with his thumbs.

“Do you feel any better?” He asks.

You nod. You did feel a tiny bit better... You had been dreading this moment ever since you heard Chanyeol was coming. Now, it’s out of the way, and you can attempt to have fun.

“Are you ready to go back in?”

“Let’s talk for a little bit out here… How have you been Xing? Really?”

He looks away for a moment. “I’m pretty tired, but I wasn’t going to miss your birthday for the world.”

“Yixing, I would’ve understood. I'd rather you be healthy…”

He smiles at you. “I know you would’ve, but seeing my favorite girl on her birthday, makes me happy. Please don’t cry anymore tonight… I hate seeing you this way.”

Zhang Yixing is one of the sweetest guys in the entire world. He gives so much love and tries to please everyone else before himself. The man was truly selfless. Sometimes, you wish you had fallen for him instead… Do you hear that heart? Cute, Chinese boy, right here. Hello?

“I’ll stay by your side the entire night. Let’s go back in, it’s getting cold out here.”

He grabs your hand and gently pulls you back inside. Jia must’ve seen you come in because she was at your side in a second.

“Are you okay?” You nod. “Are you sure? Because he’s tall, but I could throat punch him.”

Yixing and you both let out surprised laughs, causing a couple of people to look at you.

“I’m serious. I – “

“I know, Jia, and I love you for it.”

Baekhyun wanders over to you and gives you a side hug. He looks at you with big eyes and says, “Cake?”. The man knew your love of food.

You follow Baekhyun to the cake table and grab a plate. While you eat your cake, you don’t realize you are looking for Chanyeol until your eyes find him. You wanted to slap yourself. Why actively seek him out, even if you don’t realize you are doing it?

Standing on the other side of the room was a picture-perfect couple. His arm was around her waist, and she was looking up at him and laughing while her hand rested on his chest. You wanted to look away, but you couldn’t. You just continued to watch them like a horrible train wreck.

During your staring, Chanyeol looked over at you and smiled. Mentally rolling your eyes, you ignore him and turn towards Baek, who was shoving cake in his mouth.

“Baek, the cake isn’t going anywhere.” You giggle.

Baek pauses with his mouth full, “You’re right.”

An hour later, the party is dwindling down. After coming and wishing you a happy birthday again, everyone had begun to leave. You didn’t want another awkward encounter with Chanyeol and Daeun, so you told the boys you were going to head out. After many thank you’s and hugs, you turn to leave until a voice stops you.

“Y/N… I’ll come with you…”


	6. Part 3 (Chanyeol's POV)

Chanyeol didn’t know what to do. He knew he had messed up, and the guilt was consuming him. He had no idea how to explain what happened to you, so he thought not responding to you would be better. Why he thought that was the best route was beyond him.

Tour was chaos like it usually was. Every time he went to call you or respond to a text from you, he was being pulled off in a different direction. Someone constantly wanting something from him. He thrived off that sort of chaos, so he was fine with it, but he really missed you. Whenever he did have free time, he would pass out. His body too exhausted to really do anything else. Before he knew it, tour was almost over, and he hadn’t talked to you in nearly two months. He had no idea how he had let that happen, but it killed him. He didn’t know how to even begin making it up to you.

Once the group got back home, SM wanted them to jump right into the next album. While trying to write for that, they also had to do interviews and variety shows. Chanyeol was surprised SM let them do any variety shows. Usually, SM bans them from doing those types of shows, out of fear of what the guys will say. They were probably right about that.

It was during one of those variety shows that he met her. Daeun. She had taken Chanyeol by surprise. She was one of the people that worked behind the scenes and was assigned to get the group anything they needed while at that program. This meant she was around Chanyeol the entire time he was there. He couldn’t remember how, but once they started talking, it was a snowball effect. She was stunning, hilarious, and her laugh was heavenly.

She was the first person to take his mind off you. Nobody else had ever been able to do that. Not that he wanted them too. He loved you, but he also hadn’t talked to you for nearly 4 months. He had no idea how he allowed that to happen.

When he looked at his texts from you, he felt physically sick. He realized that he hadn’t responded to anything you had sent him in months. He would often attempt to start a text, but how would he explain his lack of communication with you through text? He didn’t even know how he was going to face you when he did see you. You were going to be so angry and hurt, and that wasn’t something Chanyeol wanted to see. He was being selfish, but he couldn’t stop himself.

That was the turning point for Chanyeol. He had always been looking for a reason not to be with you. He wanted to be with you so badly, but he refused to take that step and mess up anything you had together. After that though, he realized he had already completely screwed up what you had together. By accidentally ignoring your texts and not talking to you, that was when Chanyeol truly realized he was not good enough for you. He wanted you to be treated like a queen, and this tour proved he was not the one who could do that.

Meeting Daeun at that time was almost like fate agreeing with him that he needed to let you go. To let you be with someone normal and not a touring idol. He started talking to Daeun and then one thing led to another, and they were a couple. Chanyeol couldn’t even imagine what you thought. You probably hated him at this point. He had no idea what to do, and he had no idea how he was going to fix your relationship. He thought about getting advice from some of the guys, but they had no idea he wasn’t talking to you anymore. They thought he still was… which made Chanyeol feel like the biggest piece of shit there was.

A few months went by, and then one day, Baekhyun told Chanyeol about your birthday party. Your birthday… He knew it was coming up. He had been watching the calendar for a month now. He had only missed one of your birthdays before, and that was because they happened to have a huge concert on that day. You understood, which was something Chanyeol loved about you. You were always so understanding.

He knew Baekhyun had only invited him to your party, so things wouldn’t be awkward at the apartment. Baekhyun and Sehun were pissed off at him, especially after they talked to you and found out the two of you hadn’t had any communication in months. Sehun nearly punched him in the face until Jongin stopped him.

Chanyeol had no idea how he screwed everything up so much. He lost his best friends, he lost you, and it was all his fault. He tried to keep his mind off you, so he threw himself into his and Daeun’s relationship. It worked for a while until one of the guys brought up your name. He had nobody to blame but himself.

Chanyeol debated for hours if he should go to your party or not. He knew you wouldn’t want him to come, but he had to see you. He had to see for himself that you were doing alright. He had to continue being selfish. Once he decided to go, he then debated if he should bring Daeun. He knew he shouldn’t. It was like there was a giant, neon red sign flashing in his head saying, “DO NOT BRING HER WITH YOU”, but he didn’t know if any of the guys would really talk to him. Most of them kept their distance unless it was work-related, then they had to talk to him. It hurt Chanyeol, but he knew he deserved it.

He had never truly told Daeun about you. He just mentioned you were a really close friend that he used to hang out with all the time. She didn’t question anything, just accepting his words for what they were. She agreed to go to your birthday with him, and Chanyeol had no idea how this was all going to play out.

All he knew was that he hated himself. Hated himself for not responding to your texts. For not getting a hold of you after the tour. For meeting Daeun. For getting into a relationship with Daeun. For still not talking to you after that. For, well, everything. Chanyeol truly hated himself, and he didn’t know what to do about it.

He clung on to Daeun because he wasn’t sure who he would have left if they weren’t together anymore. He did love her, and that’s what made him continue to do the stupid things he was doing. Now he had two girls who he loved and didn’t want to hurt. In the end, he knew both of you were already getting hurt, even if one didn’t know that yet.

Walking into your party was one of the scariest moments of Chanyeol’s life. He stood in the doorway, with Daeun tucked under his arm, and surveyed the crowd. He saw a couple of his group members, some of your friends, but he didn’t see you. Until he found Sehun and Baekhyun. He could see your body almost directly behind Sehun, and he figured it was now or never. Time to bury the nail into his coffin.

Walking up to the group was agony. Chanyeol felt like he was going to have a heart attack from the way his heart was pounding. Poor Daeun had no idea what they were walking into. Once he arrived at the group, Chanyeol could feel everyone staring at him, but he could only look at you.

You looked breathtaking. You put every person in here to shame, including Daeun. Chanyeol hated himself even more for that thought. He wasn’t sure how much more he could hate himself. He thought he was up to his limit.

He greeted you and hugged you. You felt so stiff and uncomfortable, and he could tell you felt awkward but pretended not to notice. This was so stupid. Why did he do this? Why was he doing this to you?

“There’s someone I wanted you to meet! This is my girlfriend, Daeun.” The look on your face nearly destroyed him, but you were always stubborn. He knew right away when you put on a fake smile.

It was like he had word vomit. Once he started talking, he couldn’t stop. It wasn’t until he said, “We should get together and catch up sometime!” that Chanyeol realized how big of an idiot he was. He needed to get out of this situation and fast.

He told you he was going to go say hi to the other guys, and when he turned around, he felt empty. You were so hurt. You hated him, and he didn’t blame you one bit. After saying hi to the few guys that still talked to him, Chanyeol picked a spot at the party and stayed there for the rest of the night.

He could see you perfectly. See Yixing pull you outside onto the balcony. See you come back inside and immediately be hugged by Baekhyun. See Baekhyun pull you to the cake table. At that moment, Chanyeol dragged his eyes away from you. He had to focus on Daeun. She was his girlfriend, not you. He kept telling himself that until he felt you staring at him. He didn’t know how, but he always knew when you were looking at him. He looked over at you and hesitantly smiled. He could practically see your eyes roll.

He watched as you turned to Baekhyun. Whatever he did had you laughing to yourself. Baekhyun always made you laugh. You always smiled around him. Chanyeol pulled himself out of those thoughts and tried to ignore you. He did a good job until he noticed you leaving.

He decided he was going to talk to you before you left. He had to. He had to set things right and hope that you can forgive him. He excused himself from Daeun and began making his way over to you. He was within 20 feet of you when someone else got to you first.


	7. Part 4

The next day, you wake up to three texts from Chanyeol.

Chanyeol: Y/N! I hope you had a good time last night. Never got the chance to say goodbye!

Chanyeol: Let’s have dinner together tonight and catch up!

Chanyeol: Please… I miss you.

He misses you? Hmm… certainly doesn’t act like it. Why now? All of a sudden? He didn’t miss you until he saw you? You ignore the texts and crawl out of bed. Heading towards the kitchen, you get startled when you see brown fluff peeking out of a blanket on the couch. You completely forgot Baekhyun had stayed the night. You smile to yourself. The boy was completely buried underneath the blanket. It was adorable.

You decided you’d wake him up with the smell of coffee because who didn’t love that? You started the coffee and thought back to the night before. Baekhyun had let you vent your feelings and then did everything in his power to make you forget. He managed to beat you in your favorite game, and then the two of you watched your favorite movie. He also spent about 15 minutes making you guys a ton of snacks to munch on throughout the night. He is seriously such an amazing human being. What did you do to deserve such a good friend?

Just when the coffee was about to be done, you heard sniffing coming from the couch. You turned to watch the waking up of Byun Baekhyun. He sat up on the couch, with the blanket still covering his face. Pulling it off, he turned towards you with a pout on his face.

“Morning bacon!” You yell his least favorite nickname. He just stares at you, still trying to wake up. No human being should look that good when they wake up. It’s disgusting.

“Morning…” Baekhyun grumbles. “Is there coffee?”

You nod, walking him over a cup, made exactly how he liked. “How did you sleep?”

“I’m very thankful you have such a comfy couch.”

You smile at him. “Thanks for staying with me last night, Baek.”

“Of course.” He says as he smiles down into his coffee.

You were quiet for a moment, not wanting to break the comfortable silence you had fallen into but needing to tell Baek about the texts. “He texted me.”

Baekhyun glances up at you for a second and then holds out his hand. Handing him your phone, you watch his face, not daring to say a word.

“You should go.”

“You think so?”

He nods, “Isn’t this what you wanted? You can ask him why the hell he stopped talking to you.” Baekhyun was irritated with Chanyeol, you could tell.

“Do I really want that answer?”

“Do you want to keep wondering?” You thought for a moment. No… you didn’t…

Baekhyun holds your phone out to you, waiting for you to take it. You look at it for a second before grabbing it, typing a reply before you could talk yourself out of it.

You: Dinner sounds great.

It surprised you when it took Chanyeol less than a minute to respond. Almost like he had been waiting for you to respond.

Chanyeol: Awesome! 7? At the usual place?

You’re surprised he even remembers the restaurant you two would always go to. Okay. You’re not actually surprised, just being bitter.

You: See you there!

The closer it got to dinner, the more excited you became. You had missed Chanyeol, even if he was currently pissing you off. It took you over half an hour to come up with an outfit. You had no idea what to wear and ended up changing three times. You finally decided to just dress cute and casually, with an oversized sweater and skinny jeans. You threw on a scarf and put your hair into a bun. You knew It was stupid of you, but you wanted to impress Chanyeol.

On your way to the restaurant, your stomach was doing flips. You were nervous, excited, and angry all at once. Once you walk in, you spot Chanyeol at your usual table... except he’s not alone. Daeun is there with him. The butterflies that were doing flips in your stomach not a minute before turn to stone. You thought it’d be just the two of you. You didn’t realize she would be there also.

“Y/N! You made it!” Chanyeol loudly says as he stands up and gives you a hug. “You remember Daeun, right?”

You nod. How could you forget her? “Hello again.”

She gives you a soft smile. “Hello.”

You all take a seat and order drinks. You ordered the strongest drink you could find on the menu. You had a feeling you were going to need it to get through tonight.

Chanyeol opens the conversation with, “Did you enjoy your party? We had such a good time! Whoever threw that for you did a good job.”

“It was beautiful in there. Baekhyun and Sehun threw the party, with supervision from Junmyeon, of course.”

Chanyeol’s face falters. “Baekhyun and Sehun?” He flashes a quick smile. “They did great!”

Daeun pipes up from beside Chanyeol. “It was very pretty. Did you have fun?”

“I did, thank you.”

Thus started the most awkward dinner you have ever had in your life. You watched as Daeun constantly touched Chanyeol, always fixing something that didn’t need to be fixed. It made you lose your appetite. Throughout dinner, however, you found out Daeun really was super nice, which only made it hard for you to hate her.

At the end of dinner, you wanted to make a fast, painless escape, so you say, “Well, dinner was great. Thank you for the invite. I’ll be going now.”

Before you could even move, Chanyeol quickly stops you. “Wait! Don’t go yet. We’ve hardly talked!”

“Chan – “

“Let’s go to the bar across the street! Please?”

You debate it. Should you go? You did miss Chanyeol, even if you wanted to smack him.

“You should catch up. You haven’t seen each other in a long time.” Daeun says politely.

Screw it, you thought. The three of you head over to the bar and order drinks. After a couple drinks, you feel yourself loosen up. Chanyeol and you recall stories from the trainee days and from when they first debuted. You were enjoying yourself so much that you nearly forgot Daeun was there until she said something. You weren’t sure if it was because she was feeling ignored or if it was because she was tired, but Daeun decided to call it a night.

“Spend time with your friend, Yeolie. It was nice to see you again, Y/N.” She waves as she turns to leave.

You yell a quick “you too!” back before she makes it out the door.

About five minutes after Daeun leaves, Chanyeol goes quiet. Just as you were about to ask him something, he startles you.

“I really missed you…”

You sigh. “I missed you too, Chanyeol.”

You could tell that he wanted to say something else, but he hesitated. Then finally, “Why are you always with Baekhyun?”

“We’re friends?” The question had caught you off guard. That wasn’t what you were expecting him to say.

“You’re friends with everyone else, but they didn’t stay at your apartment last night…”

How did he even…? Wait a minute… Was he jealous? Ohhhh heck no. “Baek’s a really good friend to me.”

Chanyeol smiles sadly. “Baek… You’ve called me Chanyeol all night, but he’s Baek…”

You knew he had a lot to drink, but this was almost too much for you to handle.

“Are you… are you jealous or something?” You ask, completely confused.

You watch as Chanyeol considers your question. “I just miss my best friend. I want her back…”

Well, if you weren’t annoyed before you certainly were now. “Whose fault is that?”

“What?” Chanyeol asks, startled.

“Chanyeol. You haven’t even tried to talk to me once since the beginning of the tour. You. Only you. Everyone else has made an effort to talk to me and maintain our friendships. Why haven’t you?”

“Y/N… I – “

“I’m serious, Chan. Why did you just leave me behind?”

Chanyeol hesitates and then lets out a breath that he had been holding for a very long time. “At first, it was just being busy from the tour… But then… I met Daeun, and I just wanted to spend all my time with her. I’m sorry…”

All you could do was look down at your lap. His words were like a slap to the face, and you felt sick to your stomach. He did just drop you. He stopped caring about whatever it was the two of you had.

“I know I handled it the wrong way… especially after the last conversation we had…” he says quietly.

“Oh, so you do remember telling me, having a girlfriend would be too hard for you. Good to know.” You went from hurt straight to pissed. Completely moving past any other emotion.

Chanyeol winces at your heated words. “I’m so sorry, Y/N… Please, forgive me.”

“You want me to forgive you after you basically tell me that you ignored me because you met Daeun. To top it all off, you also tell me that you remember our conversation where you said you didn’t want to have a girlfriend, only to come back home with one.”

Chanyeol looks down at his hands, “I’m really sorry. Can we go back to being friends? Please?”

You stare at him in disbelief. It was like he wasn’t even hearing your words. “I don’t know if I want to be friends with you…”

His head snaps up. “Please, don’t say that.”

“I’m serious. That’s such a messed up thing to do.”

“I know, I know… Let me show you I’m serious. Let me prove to you how important you are to me. I need you in my life.”

You scoff. “Well, you’ve been doing a shit job of showing me, so far.”

“Y/N… please...” Chanyeol pleads, his voice cracking.

Whenever his voice cracked, so did you. It had been like this forever. You couldn’t stand to see such a lively person sad. Especially Chanyeol.

“Okay, Chanyeol… We can try to still be friends… But I don’t know how easy it’ll be for me to forget what you did.”

He nods. “Thank you for the chance. I’m gonna make this all up to you. I swear.” You give him a small smile. “Are you coming to the dinner party? You nod. “Good! Come early and hang out with me.”

“Alright…” You were really hoping you weren’t going to regret this.


	8. Part 4 (Chanyeol's POV)

He couldn’t sleep that night. While tossing and turning, all Chanyeol could think about was you at the party. The way you looked in that dress. The way your face fell when you saw him approaching you. The way you looked relieved when it was Baekhyun who had grabbed your hand when you were leaving. Chanyeol couldn’t help it, he was jealous of Baekhyun, someone who he had always rooted for and been proud of.

Chanyeol kept replaying the moment you were leaving in his mind. He had been so close to you. He was just going around a group of people to get to you when he saw Baekhyun grab your hand and tell you he would go with you. Chanyeol had frozen on the spot. Caught between wanting to stop you from leaving before he had the chance to talk to you and letting you go before he could hurt you anymore that night.

When he had got home, he had a couple of drinks before going to sleep. His mind had been too wired for him to lay down. He kept picking up his phone, debating if he should text you or not. What if you were still with Baekhyun? What if you had his number blocked? He didn’t know if you did or not. He had been too afraid to text you after so long.

As he laid in bed, he kept starting to type a text to you, but he had no idea what to say. Nothing seemed good enough. Something always seemed to be lacking in the messages he had come up with. He had so much he wanted to say to you, but it needed to be in person. Before he could talk himself out of it. He texted the first thing he could think of.

Chanyeol: Y/N! I hope you had a good time last night. Never got the chance to say goodbye!

Chanyeol: Let’s have dinner together tonight and catch up!

Chanyeol: Please… I miss you.

Chanyeol looked back at the messages he sent you and groaned. He sounded stupid. You were definitely not going to reply to him after that. He put his phone down and attempted to fall asleep. It must’ve worked because he woke up the next morning to his phone buzzing. Rolling over, he grabbed his phone from the nightstand next to the bed.

Y/N: Dinner sounds great.

Chanyeol shot up out of bed when he saw your name. Holy shit, you replied! He was so happy, he immediately texted a response.

Chanyeol: Awesome! 7 at the usual place??

He saw the three dots appear, telling him you were typing a message.

Y/N: See you there!

He jumped out of bed. He couldn’t believe he was going to get to spend some alone time with you, finally. He had so much he wanted to say to you, and he wanted to have your full attention when he said it.

Chanyeol went about his day, but he began to get more nervous as 7 o’clock showed up. He had no idea what you were going to say or do. About half an hour before he was going to leave, he heard a knock on his door. He hadn’t been expecting anybody, so he was curious who was there. When he opened his door, he felt a pit in his stomach.

“Hey Yeolie, you about ready to go?”

Daeun.

He had completely forgotten he and Daeun had plans tonight.

“Daeun! You’re here!”

“Yes, Yeol, isn’t this the time you told me?” She had a confused look on her face. Oh boy. What was he going to do???

“Yes! I’m just running a little late…”

“Oh, that’s fine, I can wait a little bit!” She walked into his apartment and headed toward the couch.

Well, it’s now or never. “Hey, Daeun…”

“Yeah?”

“Do you care if I invite Y/N to dinner? I know it’s last minute, but I, kind of, already asked her…” He trailed off. Wow, that was a dick move.

He watched as she looked down at her lap and then looked back up at him. “You already invited her?”

“Yeah…” He said guiltily.

She stood up. “Well, maybe you should just go with her? Since you already made the plans and all.”

“No! I want you to come too! You guys can get to know each other better!”

A part of him really wanted her to say no, but then another part of him wanted her to come along. He was so confused. He loved Daeun, and he didn’t want to hurt her, but he didn’t want to hurt you either.

He saw her debating whether she should go. Feeling bad, he told her the truth. “I’m sorry, Daeun… I invited her out tonight because I completely forgot we had made plans for tonight. I can cancel on her, and we can go like we originally planned. I messed up. It’s fine…” It wasn’t.

“You should go. Just the two of you.”

“I’d really like it if you came with us. Please.” His guilty conscience had completely taken over. He would have to find a way to talk to you some other time. If he could get you to go out with him again.

“Alright, I’ll go.”

While he was waiting for you at the restaurant, he felt sick to his stomach. He was going to have to make awkward conversation and not bring up anything that he had actually wanted to talk to you about. He kept watching the door, looking at every customer walking in, and then finally, there you were. The first expression on your face was happiness and nerves. Then he watched as you saw Daeun, and your face went back to your fake look, the look you had when you had seen him at the party. You weren’t expecting her to be there, and you were really bummed out that she was. Chanyeol felt even more guilty than before. If that was even possible.

“Y/N! You made it!” Giving you a hug, he said, “You remember Daeun, right?”

You both exchange polite hello’s. To move along on the conversation, he brought up your party.

“It was beautiful in there. Baekhyun and Sehun threw the party, with supervision from Junmyeon, of course.”

Baekhyun and Sehun… Chanyeol felt a wave of jealousy. He had always been the one to throw your birthday parties when he could. Apparently, Baekhyun had taken over that position.

Dinner went by quicker than he thought it would, but it was extremely awkward. Neither of you bringing up your real issues in front of Daeun. Chanyeol could tell you were going to try to leave as soon as you could. When you did exactly that, he stopped you. He wasn’t ready for this night to be over with. He wasn’t ready for you to leave.

He somehow had managed to talk you into going to the bar across the street from where you were. When you got there, everyone immediately ordered drinks, feeling the awkwardness in the air and hoping to get rid of it. After a couple of drinks, you all loosened up. Chanyeol and you had been reminiscing about the past, and he was having a blast. Just as you finished telling the story about the time Jongdae had gotten stuck in the elevator wearing a pig suit, Daeun had said she was leaving.

Chanyeol was a shit boyfriend. He was not worthy of a good relationship. He had practically forgotten Daeun was there. How the fuck did he forget his actual girlfriend was sitting right next to him!? Daeun quickly assured him that she was just tired and ready for bed, but that did little to make him feel better.

After she left, he still felt awful, but he almost felt relieved? He could finally talk to you, and now with alcohol in his system, that was exactly what he was going to do.

“I’ve really missed you…”

He watched you from the corner of his eye. You sighed and sat your drink down. “I missed you too, Chanyeol.”

He couldn’t help himself, he had to ask, “Why are you always with Baekhyun?”

He could tell that was not what you had expected him to say. “We’re friends?”

“You’re friends with everyone else, but they didn’t stay at your apartment last night…” Fuck. Why did he say that?

“Baek’s a really good friend to me.”

Chanyeol smiled sadly. “Baek… You’ve called me Chanyeol all night, but he’s Baek…” He couldn’t deny it anymore. He was completely jealous of Byun Baekhyun.

You were confused. “Are you… are you jealous or something?” YES. YES. YES.

“I just miss my best friend. I want her back…” He lied. He wanted you back alright, in more ways than one, but it had to be as a best friend. He loved you, but he loved Daeun too. He wasn’t good enough for you, so you could only ever be friends. Hell, he wasn’t even good enough for Daeun anymore.

“Whose fault is that?” You snapped.

He was so startled. He had been completely lost in thought. “What?”

“Chanyeol. You haven’t even tried to talk to me once since the beginning of the tour. You. Only you. Everyone else has made an effort to talk to me and maintain our friendships. Why haven’t you?”

“Y/N… I – “

“I’m serious, Chan. Why did you just leave me behind?” Your voice cracked, and he felt an ache in his chest.

He looked down at his lap. This is exactly what he had been waiting for. He had wanted to talk to you, and now, here was his chance.

“At first… it was just being busy from the tour…” Accurate. “But then… I met Daeun, and I just wanted to spend all of my time with her.” Slightly accurate. He had met Daeun, but he also knew he had already messed up with you. “I’m sorry… I know I handled it the wrong way… Especially after the last conversation we had…”

“Oh, so you do remember telling me, having a girlfriend would too hard for you. Good to know.”

He winced. He deserved that. He deserved worse. “I’m so sorry, Y/N… Please, forgive me.”

“You want me to forgive you after you basically tell me that you ignored me because you met Daeun. To top it all off, you also tell me that you remember our conversation where you said you didn’t want to have a girlfriend, only to come back home with one.”

He looked back down at his hands. He knew you were hurt, and he knew he didn’t deserve your forgiveness, but he was stubborn, and he wanted to be selfish. “I’m really sorry. Can we go back to being friends? Please?”

He could feel you staring at him, but he couldn’t meet your eyes just yet. “I don’t know if I want to be friends with you…”

His head snapped up. “Please, don’t say that.” His heart started to skip a beat. No, no, no.

“I’m serious. That’s such a messed up thing to do.”

“I know, I know… Let me show you I’m serious. Let me prove to you how important you are to me. I need you in my life.”

You scoff. “Well, you’ve been doing a shit job of showing me, so far.”

“Y/N… please...” Chanyeol pleaded, his voice cracking. He couldn’t lose you.

“Okay, Chanyeol… We can try to still be friends… But I don’t know how easy it’ll be for me to forget what you did.”

He breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you for the chance. I’m gonna make this all up to you. I swear.” You give him a small smile. “Are you coming to the dinner party? You nod. “Good! Come early and hang out with me.”

“Alright…”

He was going to make sure you didn’t regret this.


	9. Part 5

The boys had decided they wanted to host a dinner with the people closest to them, and they somehow managed to talk poor Kyungsoo into cooking all of it. You knew the man loved to cook, but you thought you’d go over early to see if you can “help” him. Absolutely not to hang out with Chanyeol. Nope.

When you arrived, Jia was already there, hanging out with Jongin in the living room. Those two were starting to make you suspicious. Did Jia get all dressed up at your party for Jongin? Hmm…That was something you were going to have to sit back and watch.

After greeting them, you head to the kitchen to see if you can offer Kyungoo your services. You weren’t the best cook, but you felt bad he had to prepare a meal for more than 10 people.

However, as soon as you walk in, Kyungsoo looks at you and shakes his head. “Mm-mm, no. You’re not helping me.”

“How did you even – “

“Y/N, you’re one of the only people here who would offer to help, and I appreciate it, I do, but I’d like for our apartment to not burn to the ground.”

You glare at Kyungsoo for what he was insinuating. “That’s a little extreme Soo, don’t you think?”

He smirks and raises an eyebrow at you. “The last time you cooked, you lit the kitchen towel on fire.”

“That was one time!”

“Twice, if I recall, but really I’m fine. I ordered a lot of the sides from the guy's favorite restaurant.” He walks over to you and starts leading you towards the door. As he pushes you out of the kitchen, he says, “If I need any help, I’ll call Minseok.”

“Rude.” You callback before leaving the kitchen. As you turn to go down the hallway, you almost run over Jongdae.

Jongdae looks from your face towards the kitchen and laughs. “Did Soo kick you out?”

“You light a towel on fire once, and nobody can ever let it go.”

“Twice, but we’re not keeping track.” He winks at you and gives you one of his signature smiles. “Chanyeol’s in his room. He said you might come over early.”

You thank him and quickly take off to Chanyeol’s room. When you walk in, Chan is sitting on his bed, playing guitar.

“Y/N! You came early!” He says as he walks over and hugs you. “I was wondering if you really would.”

“Well, if we’re gonna give this friend thing a try again, I have to actually make an effort.”

You step back and look around his room. Not much has changed since the last time you were in there. Except for the pictures of him and Daeun that were now scattered throughout the room. You had counted one, two, three… The third picture, located on his nightstand, caused a pang in your chest. Not because it was a picture of the two of them, although that did suck, but because of the picture it had replaced. That frame used to be home to a picture of you and Chan from when you were younger. The first birthday the two of you had ever celebrated together.

Chanyeol must’ve seen that you noticed the change. “I still have it. It’s just in the photo album on the shelf.”

Your heart brakes at his words, but you try to pretend it doesn’t hurt. Instead, you sit down on his bed and look at the floor. It’s only a moment later when he slowly sits down next to you.

“I can put it back if you want?”

“No. Obviously, you didn’t want it up, so don’t bother.”

Chanyeol sighs, “Y/N – “

“Just forget it. What were you playing when I walked in?”

You could tell he wanted to say something, but he decided to let you change the topic.

An hour had passed before you even realized it. You and Chan were sitting on the floor, leaning against his bed, playing one of his video games. He kept distracting you, so you would lose, and with all the giggling and joking around, it started to feel like old times. You had missed this so much.

Chanyeol, who had still been trying to mess up your game, kept grabbing your controller, so you held it on your opposite side from where he was. Although that was doing nothing to stop him. He put his arms on either side of you to keep his balance and was reaching over you. With his face only inches away from yours, you realized how intimate of a position you two were in.

Chanyeol noticed too because he stopped reaching for your controller and just stared into your eyes. You felt your breathing become uneven. He was so close…

You heard the door open, but it didn’t register until you saw Chanyeol’s face change. He scrambled backward off of you with a guilty look on his face. You turn to look and see who was at the door, and you are greeted with Daeun’s face.

“Hey, babe!” Chanyeol says as he gets up and walks over to kiss her. You look away, not wanting to see the affection.

“Hey, Yeolie. Hey, Y/N.” Her voice was slightly devoid of emotion.

“Hey, Daeun…” You half wave, standing up. “I’m gonna go see how dinner is coming along.” You walk out of the room as quickly as possible. Not knowing where you are going, until you hear Jia.

“Hey girlie! Everything okay?”

“Yeah, just needed to get out of there.” You quietly follow her into the living room where most of the guys were waiting for dinner to be ready.

You were all talking when you saw Sehun mutter something to Baekhyun. You watch as Baekhyun looks towards the front door and rolls his eyes. Curiously, you look behind you and see Chanyeol and Daeun walking out the front door. As you were looking in that direction, you see Kyungsoo’s head pop out from around the corner.

“Who just left?”

“Chanyeol and Daeun,” Sehun answers.

“Well, they better come back soon. Dinner will be ready in 10 minutes.”

Jongin starts to stand up. “Do you need any – “

“Not from you. Minseok, come help me.”

Jongin scoffs and plops back down onto the couch. Jongdae, who was across from him, says, “Don’t feel bad. He didn’t want Y/N’s help either.”

Jongin looks over at you, and you shrug your shoulders at him.

“Yeah, but she sets things on fire.”

“Oh my god! Can we move on already?!”

Chanyeol and Daeun ended up making it back just in time to sit down for dinner. While everyone was picking a place to sit and eat, you choose a spot across from Sehun and next to Yixing. You purposely make sure there are two open seats on your right, hoping that Chanyeol will sit next to you. You were even nice enough to leave a spot for Daeun.

When Daeun walks into the room and looks at the two open seats next to you, that hope was dashed. You watch as she walks around to the opposite side of the table and sits in one of the open seats next to Sehun.

Sehun, who had been watching the entire encounter, and didn’t want her next to him, says, “Oh hey, Daeun, the seats next to Y/N are open! You can sit there if you want.”

“No thanks. Yeolie and I will be fine over here.”

You glance up at Sehun, who was rolling his eyes. You give him a little smile for his attempt. From the corner of your eye, you see Chanyeol walk into the room. He starts to walk over to you but then notices Daeun on the other side. He stops walking for a moment, indecision clear on his face. Then, he turns and walks over to sit next to Daeun.

You lost. It was a stupid thing to try to win at, but you still wanted to be chosen.

Just when you were starting to pity yourself, you feel a hand on your right shoulder. You look over just in time to see Baekhyun sliding in the seat next to you.

He leans over and whispers, “Everything going alright?” You nod at him. At this point, you were just ready for some food.

Dinner went by fast. Kyungsoo’s cooking was delicious as always. You spent most of the dinner talking and joking with the two boys next to you. You had glanced over at Chanyeol a few times and noticed him watching you and Baekhyun. You wanted to talk to him, but Daeun was trying to keep all his attention.

After dinner, they had gone to his room and hadn’t come out since. So much for trying to prove you were important to him.

For a while, you sat around with Sehun and listened to him tell Yixing about the acting role he had landed. You had already heard about the role multiple times, so instead of just sitting there feeling useless and sorry for yourself, you decide to go help Junmyeon with the dishes.

“How’re things going with Chanyeol? Are you guys still trying to be friends?” Junmyeon asks when he notices you walk into the kitchen.

You go and stand next to him, picking up a dish towel to dry, and think about how you want to answer his question. “Things were awkward at first, but we fell right back into our old routine after a while.”

“Well, that’s good right?” You nod. “Then why do you seem like it’s not?”

“I’ve never had to see him have a girlfriend before. It’s weird. He seems... quieter. Maybe it’s all in my head, I don’t know.”

Junmyeon stops washing the dishes and turns toward you. “I know it’s awkward, but it’ll get easier soon.”

“Will it?”

He looks at you for a moment, searching your features for a sign of how you feel. “You still have feelings for him, don’t you?”

You drop the towel down onto the counter and quietly say, “I know I shouldn’t, but… I can’t help it. I loved him… love him.”

Junmyeon gives you a sad look but doesn’t respond to your admission. Instead, he bumps his hip into yours and says, “Let’s go see what kind of trouble they’re getting into out there.”

When you walk out of the kitchen, you see that Chanyeol and Daeun had rejoined the group, and you quietly find a seat and listen to the conversation being had. Even though you sit almost directly across from the couple, you notice Chanyeol wouldn’t look at you. In fact, he was looking everywhere but you.

This continued for the next hour, even when you spoke. When it was time to leave, you were giving out hugs and goodbyes like usual. You note that Chanyeol was staying off to the side of the group like he was trying to avoid having to hug you. When you walk over to hug him goodbye, he holds up a hand and waves, giving you a slight smile.

You felt so awkward. Not knowing what to do, you awkwardly wave back and glance around the room. The people still by the door were giving Chanyeol weird looks. Everyone knew how touchy he was. Not to mention the entire reason you came over was to “mend your friendship”.

You feel Jia put her arm around your shoulders and pull you towards the door. She yells, “Adios!” before the door shuts, and you let her lead you away from the apartment, completely confused as to what had happened throughout the night.

-A week later-

Ever since the dinner last week, you had texted Chanyeol multiple times, but he never responded to any of your texts. You were over it. This was the same bullshit as last time. Nothing has changed, and you felt stupid for thinking it did.

Things had been going so well when it was just the two of you, and you were confused as to what changed. Yeah, Daeun found you in maybe not the best position to be in, but it’s not like anything was going on. You were literally just goofing around.

As you were sitting there on your couch, contemplating all the possibilities, you hear a knock on your door. You weren’t expecting anyone, so you had no idea who it could be.

Getting up, you walk to the door and see Chanyeol standing outside of your apartment. Surprise floods you, but you open the door to let him walk in.

When he didn’t leave your entryway, you knew something was wrong.

Nervously, you ask, “What’s going on Chan?”

Chanyeol looked extremely anxious, which worried you even more. “We’ve gotta talk.”

“Okay… well come sit do- “

“No.” He interrupts you. You felt a pit in your stomach at his tone and knew whatever was about to happen would not good. “I don’t really know how to say this, so I’m just gonna go for it.” Chanyeol pauses, working up the nerve to say whatever he was going to say. “Daeun is uncomfortable with our friendship.”

Um… “What...”

“She doesn’t want me to be friends with you anymore.”

“Chan, what – “

“I’m sorry, Y/N.”

You open your mouth in shock before whispering, “What did I do?”

“I don’t know why, but she means a lot to me, so I’m sorry.”

“I know she means a lot to you, but Chan, we’ve been friends for over seven years...” Chanyeol looks down at his feet but doesn’t say a word.

You continue to stare at him, feeling yourself become pissed off. “The entire reason I came over for dinner was because you were telling me how important I was to you…” When he still wouldn’t look at you, you knew you were going to lose it. “You’re really okay with this? You’re going to let her tell you who you can and can’t be friends with?”

“It’s not like that.”

“It’s exactly like that.” You angrily shout.

Chanyeol looks up towards the ceiling, not wanting to make eye contact with you. “I don’t want to hurt you, Y/N. I really don’t.”

“Well, it's too late for that…” You scoff, feeling your throat starting to close, and your eyes burning with the threat of tears.

At least he had the decency to look like didn’t want to do it. His face was turning red like he was trying not to lose it himself. You watch as he composes himself, a decision being made in his mind.

“I’m so sorry…” He whispers, “but please don’t contact me again.”

He turns around, and you watch as he walks out of your life. You slam the door and lean against it. You could feel it getting harder and harder to breathe. Just when you thought you were going to be able to hold in the tears, you slide down the door and let out a loud sob. That was when the floodgates opened.

You couldn’t believe what had just happened. Chanyeol really chose his girlfriend of a couple months over a seven-year friendship. Over you.


	10. Part 5 (Cahnyeol's POV)

Chanyeol was borderline freaking out. He must’ve walked from the window to his bedroom door in the dorm at least 30 times. Everyone else had been getting things ready for tonight or chilling out in their bedrooms, but he couldn’t. His mind was too busy wandering. Wondering if you were really going to show up early like you had told him. If you were really about to give him a second chance. He was so grateful that you were willing to try to be friends again. That’s why he was so nervous and anxious.

He grabbed his guitar to try to calm his thoughts. Strumming a few different chords here and there. Not really finding a rhythm that was keeping his attention long enough. He was just about to give up when he saw his bedroom door open. He focused in on the person standing in the doorway and jumped up in surprise when he realized it was you.

“Y/N! You came early!” He was so happy you came over early that he shouted a little louder than necessary. He walked over to give you a hug, not thinking that maybe you wouldn’t really want one from him right now. “I was wondering if you really would…”

“Well, if we’re gonna give this friend thing a try again, I have to actually make an effort.”

All he could do was stare at you as you took his room in. He hadn’t changed it much since the last time you were there. He had been too busy with schedules to do more than sleep when he was in here. However, he remembered he had changed out a few of his old pictures for pictures of him and Daeun, after you noticed them, naturally. You didn’t really look at a picture for too long until you found the one on the nightstand. Chanyeol cursed to himself. Why didn’t he look around his room before you came?

The picture that he had there originally was one of you and him from the first birthday you had together. He could remember the picture so vividly from all the time he spent staring at it when he couldn’t sleep. A younger vserion of him had his arm wrapped around your shoulders, and you both had giant matching grins on your faces. You had icing on your nose from Chanyeol, who had stuck his finger in the cake and wiped it on you.

“I still have it. It’s just in the photo album.”

He had to move the picture out of his sight for his own sanity. The entire time he went without talking to you, he spent many nights staring at that picture. Wondering if there was a way to get you to forgive him.

That wasn’t the only reason he changed it out, though. The first time Daeun had come over, she had asked who you were. Chanyeol really didn’t know how to explain it all to her, so he said you were someone he cared a lot about. Every time after that, he would catch Daeun glancing at that photo. It made him feel guilty, so he put it in his photo album.

Chanyeol watched as you slowly sank onto his bed. He could tell it physically hurt you that he had changed out that photo. You stared at the floor, ignoring Chanyeol as he sat next to you.

“I can put it back if you want?”

“No. Obviously, you didn’t want it up, so don’t bother.” He sighed, boy were you wrong.

“Y/N…”

You cut him off and attempted to change the topic. Not knowing how to explain to you why he changed it out and not really willing to explain to you why, he let you.

An hour passed before Chanyeol realized it. He had been having so much fun with you, just like the old days. You were both sitting on the floor, playing video games, and Chanyeol was determined to make you lose. He wasn’t doing it to be mean, he just loved messing around with you. You had moved the controller to the other side of your body, out of Chanyeol’s reach. He laughed like that was going to stop him from getting it.

He reached over you to grab the controller with his right hand and used his left hand as leverage to hold himself up. He hadn’t realized the position he was putting himself in until you turned your face towards him. His breath caught. His face was mere inches from yours. He stopped reaching for the controller, becoming distracted by the situation the two of you were in.

He heard the door open, and that was what broke him out of his trance. Looking up to see who it was, he saw a surprised look on his girlfriend’s face. Oh shit. He scrambled backward and stood up, trying his best to keep the guilt he was feeling from his face.

“Hey, babe!” He walked over to Daeun and gave her a kiss. By now, her expression was unreadable. Eyes bouncing between the two of you.

“Hey, Yeolie. Hey, Y/N.”

He heard you awkwardly say, hey. You then mumbled something about dinner and booked it out of his bedroom. He looked down at Daeun and smiled. Chanyeol moved out of the way so she could walk into his room.

“What were you two doing in here?” Daeun asked as she stared down at where you two had been sitting.

“We were playing a game. I was trying to make her lose.”

“By doing what exactly?”

Daeun was suspicious, and he didn’t really blame her. He would be too if he was in her position. “I was just trying to grab the controller out of her hands.”

Daeun made a “hmm” sound and wordlessly sat on his bed.

“Nothing was going on, Daeun, I swear we were just messing around.”

She didn’t say anything, and Chanyeol didn’t know what to do, so he started to pick up his controllers. When he turned to look at Daeun, he saw her staring at the picture of the two of them on the nightstand.

“Chan, can we go for a walk? I think we could both use some fresh air.”

He nodded, and they walked out of the dorm. Chanyeol knew everyone was in the living room, but he didn’t glance that way. He wanted to look at you so badly, and that was exactly why he didn’t. His girlfriend was the girl walking out of the apartment, not the girl sitting on the couch with his members. He had to keep reminding himself.

Daeun and he had walked over to the park a couple of blocks away from the dorm. She had been completely silent, and Chanyeol was becoming increasingly worried. They were sitting on the swings when Daeun finally spoke up.

“Was there ever something going on between you and Y/N?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Chanyeol, please.” She never called him Chanyeol. Ever. He was slightly starting to panic. He didn’t want Daeun to figure out the true extent of his feelings for you, but he also didn’t want to lie to her.

“We used to have something, but we never labeled it.” Daeun looked at him, waiting for a further explanation. “We both really liked each other last year, but I told her I didn’t want to have a girlfriend back then.”

“What changed?”

“I mean, that was a year ago, Daeun. I guess I changed.”

She was silent for a moment, taking in what he had said. “What about now? Do you still have feelings for each other?”

“She barely likes me as a friend right now, so I highly doubt that she has any feelings for me.”

“What about you?”

Him? Oh, he still had feelings for you. He was still in love with you, but he had no intentions of letting anyone find out. Especially his girlfriend.

“No. I’ve moved on with you.”

She went quiet again, and he wasn’t sure where her head was at. When she finally spoke up, the words that came out of her mouth took him by surprise.

“I don’t want you to be friends with her anymore...”

“What?” She couldn’t really be asking him what he thought she was...

“I’m sorry, Chanyeol, but the relationship you have with her makes me uncomfortable. Walking into your room and seeing whatever was going on... I didn’t like it.”

“Daeun, you’re asking me to get rid of a friendship that means a lot to me…”

“Don’t I mean a lot to you?”

Chanyeol knew she wasn’t trying to be manipulative, but damn that’s exactly what she was being. He couldn’t believe this was happening. He had invited you over to rebuild your friendship, and now his girlfriend is telling him to end it. Fuck, he didn’t know what to do. He was so attached to Daeun that he didn’t want to lose her, but he was in love with you.

Chanyeol jolted. He wasn’t supposed to be in love with you. He was supposed to be in love with his girlfriend. Who was not you, he reminded himself for the second time today. Even after being away from you for months, he was still completely in love with you. That was the pull you had on him.

He looked over at the girl next to him. She looked so sad and little. He should comfort her and hold her, but he wanted to comfort and hold you. That was why he made his decision.

“Okay, Daeun… I’ll stop being friends with her.”

He had to move on from you and focus on his relationship with Daeun. Even though he felt like shit about it.

They made it back just in time for dinner. Chanyeol was being shooed out of the kitchen by Minseok, who was telling him to go sit at the table.

“Yes, dad. Geez, I was just seeing if you needed any help!”

“You would probably drop anything that we had you carry.”

“I would not!”

Minseok gave him the look.

“Well, I wouldn’t on purpose…”

Chanyeol turned and walked into the dining room. He looked up and saw you and two empty seats next to you. Perfect! He and Daeun could sit… Oh, wait… He stopped walking and looked around for Daeun, who was on the other side of the table watching him.

This was it. He had to show Daeun he was serious. He turned, walked to the other side of the table, and sat next to Daeun. He glanced up at you quickly and saw the hurt expression on your face. God, this sucks! This was so stupid. All of it.

When he looked up again, Baekhyun was sliding into the seat next to you. Of course, he was. Baekhyun was everywhere. Throughout the entire dinner, he watched you and Baekhyun. He couldn’t help himself. He watched as the two of you giggled and whispered to each other, often pulling Yixing into the conversation. That use to be Chanyeol. It was always the two of you goofing around and sharing secrets.

Daeun kept trying to talk to him, but he couldn’t really focus on anything she was saying. When dinner was over, Daeun nearly pulled Chanyeol to his room, and they stayed in their doing absolutely nothing for over an hour. Chanyeol knew she was trying to keep him away from you, and he thought it was petty, but he stayed in there with her like she wanted.

Daeun must’ve been able to tell he really didn’t want to be couped up in his room because they eventually went out to the living room and joined everyone else. Chanyeol did everything in his power to not look at you like he wanted to. Every time you talked, he suddenly got very interested in his drink. He knew you noticed, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it.

It was the most awkward when it was time for you to leave. You had turned towards him to give him a hug, and he immediately waved at you. You paused mid-step and slowly put your arms down. Everyone was looking at him funny, trying to figure out why he wasn’t going to hug the person he had invited over, his best friend of 7 years.

Watching you walk out of the door was miserable. He wanted to race after you to explain what was going on, but he knew how stupid it would all sound. Plus, he had Daeun standing behind him, watching his every move.

-A week later-

You had texted Chanyeol multiple times since the dinner, but he hadn’t responded to a single one of them. He thought if he stopped replying to you, you would get fed up with him and stop talking to him. He still had no idea why he was doing this. He knew he was being stupid. He wanted one thing and then did the other. It was like he was tangled up in a giant web of his mistakes, and he didn’t know how to untangle himself.

Daeun was over the situation as well. Nearly every time you texted him, she had been by him. She knew it was you texting him. He didn’t know how she knew, but she knew. Maybe a woman’s intuition. When he got the last text from you, Daeun finally had enough.

“Chanyeol, you have to tell her. She’ll just keep blowing up your phone if you don’t.”

“Okay. Okay… I’ll go talk to her.”

That was over an hour ago. Since then, he left his apartment, drove over to yours, and he had been standing outside of your door for nearly 45 minutes. He had been mentally preparing himself to basically destroy any relationship you ever had. Did he want to do it? Absolutely not. He just didn’t know of another way to get through this situation. He had to move on from you, and the way to do that was to distance himself from you, for Daeun’s sake.

He worked up the courage and knocked on your door. When you opened the door, he could tell you were surprised to see him after not talking for a week. You moved over to let him into your apartment and sit down, but he refused. If he walked any further into your apartment, every promise he made to Daeun would go completely out the window.

He could tell you were nervous, and it was making him even more anxious than he was before. You knew something was up. You just didn’t know what yet. “I don’t really know how to say this, so I’m just gonna go for it.” Chanyeol paused, working up the nerve to say what he was going to say. “Daeun is uncomfortable with our friendship.”

You were caught off guard. That was not what you had been expecting him to say. “What...”

“She doesn’t want me to be friends with you anymore.”

“Chan, what – “ You looked so confused and hurt, and he felt like such an asshole. He was an asshole.

“I’m sorry, Y/N.”

“What did I do?” You whispered.

Come on, Chanyeol. Just rip off the band-aid. “I don’t know why, but she means a lot to me, so I’m sorry.”

“I know she means a lot to you, but Chan, we’ve been friends for over seven years...” Chanyeol looked down at his feet. He couldn’t look at you anymore, or else he was going to back down. “The entire reason I came over for dinner was because you were telling me how important I was to you… You’re really okay with this? You’re going to let her tell you who you can and can’t be friends with?”

“It’s not like that.”

“It’s exactly like that.” You angrily shout. Chanyeol was almost sure you wanted to hit him. He almost wanted you to as well.

He looked up towards the ceiling, not wanting to make eye contact with you. “I don’t want to hurt you, Y/N. I really don’t.”

“Well, it’s too late for that…” When he looked back at you, he could see you were holding yourself back from crying. He felt his throat getting scratchy. He had to get it together. He took a deep breath and composed himself, a decision being made in his mind.

“I’m so sorry…” He whispered, “but please don’t contact me again.”

He turned around and walked away from your apartment. He not only heard your door slam shut, but he physically felt it. He stood in the hallway, trying to talk himself into walking away when he heard it. You were leaning against your door, sobbing, and that was all it took for Chanyeol to lose it too. He sank to the ground and let himself finally feel every emotion he had been holding back.


	11. Part 6

You spent two days sulking in your apartment, and it would’ve been longer had it not been for Jia. At the end of day two, she had come over and threatened your life if you didn’t leave that apartment. So, here you were, at a small, quiet restaurant with Yixing, Baekhyun, Sehun, and Junmyeon. You figured if you dealt with all of them at once, they’d leave you alone for a few days. As a bonus, it would also get Jia off your back.

“Y/N, are you even listening to me?”

You sigh. “Sorry Sehun, what were you talking about?” You look at the boy sitting across from you and attempt to pay attention to the conversation. Sehun just stared at you, trying to decide if he was going to be offended or worried.

After a moment, he leans back and says, “Okay, what’s going on with you?”

“Nothing?”

Yixing pipes up from your left. “You never were good at lying…”

“You’ve been quiet since we got here, and we’ve hardly heard from you...” Junmyeon decides to add to the conversation.

It was Baekhyun who brought up the elephant in the room. The tall, annoying elephant, with a deep voice. “Did something happen with Chanyeol?”

“Yeah, what the hell was that at dinner by the way?” Sehun asks the table.

You zone out of the conversation, not wanting to hear what they were going to say about that night. It was working until Yixing pokes your arm. You look over at him, noticing how he was giving you a worried look. You glance at the rest of the boys, realizing they all went quiet, waiting for you to say something, anything.

“Chanyeol told me not to contact him anymore.”

There was no response. The four boys just stared at you, processing the words that had just come out of your mouth. Sehun and Junmyeon were the first to react.

“Excuse me?”

“What did you just say?”

“Chanyeol came to my house the other night, told me Daeun was uncomfortable with our friendship, and then told me not to contact him anymore.”

You look at each boy, and you could tell that none of them had a clue about this. Junmyeon was surprised, and you would’ve laughed at the look on his face any other time. Yixing looked uncomfortable. He had always hated situations like this. Sehun and Baekhyun were in between disgusted and pissed off.

Finally, Baekhyun asks, “Why?”

You sigh. “I don’t know. He didn’t tell me.”

“That dumb, big-eared idiot,” Sehun angrily says.

Junmyeon sighs, trying to stop him before he said something he’d regret. “Sehun- “

“Don’t Sehun me, hyung. He’s an idiot.”

-A week later-

DING

Sehun: If you don’t show up tonight, I’ll disown you.

You read the text and roll your eyes. For the past week, you had been trying to get out of game night. You used to love family game night. It was something you always looked forward to, and if Chanyeol wasn’t going to be there, you’d be more willing to go.

You didn’t want to see him or Daeun. You’ve gone well out of your way to avoid him ever since he told you not to contact him, but you knew they would both be there tonight. You also knew if you saw him and Daeun together, with a little liquor in your system, all hell would break loose.

After sulking for a few days, all that was left was anger. You wanted to smack Chanyeol, and you could care less about what Daeun thought or wanted. Sure, she was nice, but now you couldn’t stand her.

DING

Sehun: Try me.

Sehun and Baekhyun had been consistently asking you to come. They had originally been begging and bribing, but you could see Sehun decided to move on to threatening you instead.

You thought back to the last game night. You had so much fun... it was easily one of the best nights. Jia had ended the night by sleeping in the closet. Jongdae had lost his favorite pair of shoes, though you were 90% sure Minseok had hidden them, he just couldn’t remember where. Chanyeol and you had ended up making out in Junmyeon’s bedroom, and when the older man found out, he complained how it was always his room that people ended up in. That night felt like a lifetime ago, but it had only been last year.

DING

Sehun: Quit ignoring me!

Ugh, this kid.

You: OKAY. I’ll be there. Quit texting me.

DING

Sehun: ‘Kay! See you soon! 😉

You: You are such a little shit sometimes.

Sehun: Love you too!

A text from Jongin pops up almost immediately after Sehun’s response, and you knew the two of them were in this together.

Jongin: Noona! Don’t forget the chicken you promised me! ☹

You: I won’t Nini!

Two hours later, you were walking into their apartment with two buckets of chicken. You were the last to arrive, and before you even had a chance to shut the door, Jongin was taking the chicken from your hands.

“You are one of my favorite people!” He yells excitedly, as he gives you a big, beautiful smile.

“You’re lucky you’re one of mine!” You tease.

Jia, who had come up behind Jongin, offers you a giant grin. “Hello, my bestest friend in the entire world!”

You stare at her. “Did you already start drinking?”

“Mmmm yes! Now come sit.” She says as she grabs your arm and drags you into the living room, where you heard loud shouts of greetings.

Looking around the room, you notice everyone was well into their drinking. How late where you? As you take in where everyone is sitting, you see him. Chanyeol. Sitting on one of the chairs in the corner, all by himself.

“Oh, good! Another responsible adult here to help me.” You hear Junmyeon say.

You shake your head at him. “Not tonight, Myeon.”

After you say that, Jongdae walks up to you with a cup of who knows what. “In that case, you have a lot of catching up to do!”

You take the cup without even looking at it and chug the liquid until you finish. It was awful, and it tasted like almost nothing but alcohol. Handing the cup back over to a surprised Jongdae, you glance around the room. Noticing how everyone is staring at you with a surprised look on their face.

Shrugging your shoulders, you say, “You said I had to catch up.”

“Oh heck yes! It’s gonna be a good night!” Sehun yells excitedly from the couch.

Minseok groans, putting his head in his hands. “Dear god, someone save me.”

An hour later, you were definitely tipsy. Your lips were going numb, and you figured you needed a cup of water, so you wouldn’t want to die in the morning. You had no idea what you had been drinking, just chugging until the cup was empty and then grabbing another. Everyone was being loud and obnoxious, but you loved the chaos.

Sehun and Minseok had been arguing for the past 10 minutes over whether this newest era had been Minseok’s or Sehun’s. Jongin and Jia had been “subtly” flirting with each other. You swore something was going on with them... you just had to come up with a way to get them to admit it. Jongdae had literally disappeared. He got up from the seat next to you 20 minutes ago, and you hadn’t seen him since. Then there was Baekhyun, who had been calling Taehyung from BTS non-stop, causing Junmyeon to take his phone away. You loved nights like these.

You thought about how normally you would be bugging Chanyeol about something at this point, but tonight you’ve done your best to avoid his direction entirely. The two of you hadn’t said a word to each other the entire night.

Daeun had passed out early, so Chan was sitting in a chair by himself while staring at the ceiling. You remembered how, less than a year ago, the two of you were sitting in that exact chair, and Sehun was asking you why you weren’t together. You wondered if that moment ever crossed Chanyeol’s mind.

“Let’s play truth or dare.” You turn your head to see Kyungsoo, who was smirking at you from across the table. The look he had on his face was suddenly giving you a bad feeling.

Jia was just as cautious as you were. “Wait, you want to play truth or dare? You avoid that game… What’re you up to?”

Kyungsoo feigns innocence. “Me? Nothing. I just want to play something.”

You were not buying it. “Then why do you look so evil right now?”

He sighs exasperatedly. “You know how bad my eyes are!”

“Let’s play!” You glance up as Jongdae comes from around the corner.

“Where have you been?” Minseok asks from your right.

“Yeah, we needed you to settle something for us.” You roll your eyes at Sehun’s voice, knowing they were just going to drag him into their stupid debate that had gone on for way too long.

Kyungsoo, being impatient and trying to keep everyone from getting sidetracked, says, “Are we playing or not?”

Unsurprisingly, everyone around you agrees to play, but a small part of you is surprised when Chanyeol says he’ll play too.

“Hyung, can I have my phone back?” Baekhyun whines from your left.

Junmyeon starts to hand him his phone, but before letting go, he says, “Leave Taehyung alone.”

Baekhyun, being Baekhyun, immediately started to imitate him, which led to the older man whacking him in the back of his head. “Ow! Hyung!”

Suddenly you hear Kyungsoo clap and say, “Okay! I’ll start!”

...Why did those two little words make you so nervous?

You quietly watch as he looks for a victim to start with and just hope that it isn’t you. “Sehun. Truth or dare?”

Thus, started a game of truth or dare. You knew Kyungsoo was up to something. There was a reason he decided to play this specific game tonight, but he had yet to show his cards.

“I told you, Jongdae, I don’t know where your freaking shoes went. That wasn’t me.” Minseok says, clearly irritated.

Jongdae immediately went to reply, but Kyungsoo cut him off. “Jongin, truth or dare?”

“Dare.”

Kyungsoo smirks. “I dare you to kiss Jia.”

You nearly spit out your drink. There it was. You had a feeling that Kyungsoo thought the same thing about them that you did, but you never got a chance to ask him. Glancing over at the pair, you could see they both looked surprised.

“Well, go on.” Kyungsoo encourages them.

You watch as the pair leans in and kisses. A couple of the boys start shouting things at them, but they ignored them and kept kissing. And kissing.

“Why don’t you come up for air?!” Baekhyun yells gleefully, clearly enjoying everything that was happening around him.

The two pull apart at that. Jongin looking down at his lap smiling, while Jia leans back into her spot with a giant smile on her face.

“I said kiss, not make out,” Kyungsoo grumbles.

“I knew there was something going on between you two!” Jongdae yells.

Jongin, wanting the attention off him, suddenly says, “Chanyeol! Truth or dare?”

Chanyeol, who hadn’t said much the entire night and had barely participated in the game, responds. “Truth.”

You were a little nervous. You had no idea what Jongin was going to ask him, and the fact that everyone was pretty messed up at this point meant there would be no holding back.

“If you could tell a secret to someone in this room, who and what would it be?”

Chanyeol was quiet for a moment, thinking about the answer. You were curious about what he was going to say. When he was drunk, he had two sides: 1) funny, goofy Chanyeol and 2) blunt, no holding back Chanyeol. It’s been so long since the two of you were close... you didn’t know if that had changed or not.

“Y/N.”

Your head snaps toward Chanyeol. You? What secret did he have to tell you? For the first time tonight, Chanyeol looks at you. Your heart starts pounding in your chest, and your mouth immediately goes dry.

“I would tell Y/N I loved her a year ago.”

You hear gasps from all around you, but after that, everything turned into a muffled silence. Your heart was now beating in your throat, and your body was getting hot. You couldn’t believe what you were hearing. Chanyeol just admitted, out loud, in front of the entirety of EXO, that he had loved you a year ago.

Chanyeol was apparently not done speaking. “I would also tell her how badly I miss her.”

You were shocked, as was everyone around you. You could feel their eyes looking between the two of you, but you couldn’t break eye contact with Chanyeol. He was staring at you with so much sadness on his face that you suddenly felt like you were suffocating. Needing fresh air, you get up and walk out onto the balcony.

Once you get outside, you put your hands on the railing and look out at all the city lights. You were trying to process what you had just heard. Maybe you were just really drunk and hearing things... Or maybe, you were passed out, and you were actually dreaming… Chanyeol could not have possibly told you he had loved you.

You hear someone step out on the balcony behind you. Glancing back, you see Junmyeon, oh, good. You could use some big brother advice right now.

“Are you okay?” He asks while putting his arm around you.

You look over at him with a serious expression. “Am I really drunk?”

A smile grows on his face at your question as he nods. “Probably, but you didn’t imagine that.”

“Oh. Okay… Myeon… What am I supposed to do about this? He has a girlfriend. She’s passed out in his freaking room right now.”

“I wish I could tell you what to do, but you two are going to have to figure this out yourselves.”

Just as you were about to respond, you hear the balcony door slide open. You freeze, afraid to see who it was, although, you had a feeling you already knew. Slowly, you turn to check if your hunch was correct, and you meet the eyes of Chanyeol, who was standing there, staring at you.

“Can we talk?”

Junmyeon replies before you have a chance. “Maybe you should wait until your both sober.”

“Please Y/N. I have to get this off my chest.” Chanyeol continues on, ignoring him, so Junmyeon attempts to stop him again.

“Chan – “

“No offense, hyung, but I’m not talking to you,” Chanyeol says, finally turning towards the older man.

At that moment, you find your voice and say, “It’s okay, Myeon. I want to talk to him.”

You could tell that Junmyeon was irritated with Chanyeol’s comment, but he nods his head and walks back into the apartment. You turn your back to Chanyeol and face the lights of the city. You had no idea what he wanted to say to you, but a part of you needed to find out.

Out of the corner of your eye, you see Chanyeol walk up next to you, taking the spot Junmyeon had vacated. Before he can say anything, however, you speak.

“What the hell was that?”

“I’m sorry. I had to say it. I needed to tell you the truth.” He didn’t look sorry at all.

“How come you never told me?”

“I knew I was going to be away for a while, so I was gonna wait until I came back, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized I didn’t want to mess up our friendship. You’re too important to me, and I didn’t want to take the chance of ruining that.” He laughs. “But that’s exactly what I did anyway.”

Not sure what to say, you stay quiet.

“I miss you so much.” He whispers, then loudly, “It’s not fair that we can’t be friends.”

You debate on asking him the question that was on the tip of your tongue. You didn’t know if you truly wanted the answer or not. At this point, your heart was beating so hard, you were sure Chanyeol could hear it.

Finally getting the question out, you quietly ask, “Do you still? Love me?”

He closes his eyes. “Yeah… I do…” He responds, just as quiet. “I think about what we would be like together. I know we’d be perfect.”

“Then why are you with Daeun?” You couldn’t help but ask.

He looks pained. “I love her more… I’m sorry…” He whispers.

There was a sharp pain in your chest, and you suddenly feel like you can’t breathe. You needed to get out of here. Now. Turning, you go back into the apartment and immediately grab your belongings. You hear Jia and a couple of the members say your name, but you had no intentions of stopping for anyone. The threat of tears was coming faster than you were prepared for, and you didn’t want any of them to see you cry.

Just as you were about to make it to the door, you feel a hand grab your arm. You glance down at the hand, recognizing it immediately, before looking up at the man.

Baekhyun meets your eyes. “I’m coming with you.”


	12. Part 6 (Chanyeol's POV)

Chanyeol was miserable. It had been a week since he spent half of the night crying outside of your door. That night was a bad one for him, and he wanted to forget it had ever happened, but he knew he deserved the pain he was feeling. When he had finally picked himself up off the floor and made his way home, Daeun had been worried sick about him.

“Chanyeol! You’ve been gone for hours! Where were you... Have you been crying? Are you okay?”

He couldn’t respond to her, so he just stared numbly at the floor. It went on long enough that she pulled him into his apartment and held him until he fell asleep. She kept apologizing, saying she knew how hard it was to lose a friendship but that it would be better this way. The more she talked, the more Chanyeol wanted to cover his ears and tell her to go away. Rationally, he knew this would be better for the two of them, but his heart was trying to crawl out of his chest and leave him behind. It was over the pain he was causing himself.

The next few days after that night had been a blur. Chanyeol didn’t care to leave the house, and he turned off his phone. He just didn’t want to associate with anyone for a while. That worked until he heard banging on his door. The banging continued to the point that Chanyeol left the couch, for the first time in hours, and opened the door. On the other side of it was a very pissed off maknae, and Chanyeol knew he was in for it.

“What the fuck do you think you are doing, Chanyeol?”

Chanyeol didn’t even care enough to correct him. He deserved whatever Sehun was going to say, so he didn’t respond and instead just looked at the man before him. Sehun must’ve gotten a good look at Chanyeol’s appearance because he suddenly sighed and let some of his anger go away.

“Why are you doing this to her? To yourself?”

“I don’t know what I’m doing anymore, Sehun.” He sounded so broken and dull, so unlike the self he was used to.

“Daeun asked you to do this?” Chanyeol nodded, not having the energy to respond out loud.

“What do you want, hyung?” Sehun gestured for the two of them to go sit down. Chanyeol moved out of the way and followed the younger man to his couch.

“I want her, Sehun, and I hate myself for it. Daeun is the one I should be fighting for, not Y/N.”

“Why are you even with Daeun if you feel this way? Why did you give up the chance to be with Y/N?”

He looked at the younger man, seeing genuine concern on his face. He understood why Sehun was upset. Sehun always saw you as an older sister, and when one of the boys tried to pick on you, he was the first one to your defense every time. He loved you and wanted nothing but the best for you.

“I do care for Daeun, but I care about Y/N more, and I shouldn’t. I’m not good enough for her, Sehun. She deserves to be with someone better.”

Sehun looked at him like he was stupid. “Like who? Who would be better for her than you? Yes, you messed up, but everyone does.”

He sighed. “I don’t know. All I know is that I need to do what I can to make Daeun happy right now. I can’t lose her too.”

After that night, Junmyeon texted him to remind him about family game night, which required everyone’s attendance, no matter what. Chanyeol started to feel less and less welcome when it came to the members. Some of them not happy about how he was handling the situation with you. As the leader, it was Junmyeon’s job to make sure EXO ran smoothly and that any internal fights were worked out before the fans caught on. There was no way Chanyeol was getting out of it.

When he got to the dorm, he stuck around Kyungsoo, Minseok, and Jongdae, since they knew the least about the relationship between the two of you. The three could sense the tension between him and the rest of the boys, though, and they wanted whatever it was to be worked out.

It wasn’t that Chanyeol hated game nights. He loved them. They were one of the only times the group could let loose and be dumb. He thought back to the last one, and boy was it a mess. He remembered Jongin breaking one of the lamps when he was practicing a kick, and Yixing had sat in the corner holding a stuffed unicorn while singing to it. Chanyeol still had the video as proof. He also remembered that the two of you ended up making out for most of the night, which just reminded him of why he didn’t want to be here.

Everyone had already started drinking by the time you had arrived. Daeun, who was a lightweight, was already drunk. Her eyes going crossed when she tried to talk to him. She passed out not long after that, so Chanyeol carried her into his room and laid her on the bed. His room was stuffy, so he opened the window, letting her get some much needed fresh air. When he went back into the living room, he decided to take a seat away from the group and just chill out by himself for a while.

Everyone was getting more and more obnoxious as the night progressed, and Chanyeol swore if he heard Baekhyun yell Taehyung’s name one more time, he was going to throw something at him.

He was fine sitting by himself, downing alcohol like water. It was making him forget everything important. He leaned back, staring at the ceiling, contemplating life. A year ago, he was in this exact chair, with you in his lap. How different things were… He shook his head to clear those thoughts.

“Let’s play Truth or Dare.” Chanyeol groaned. Why? Why did Satansoo want to play Truth or Dare? What the hell was he up to?

“Chanyeol, you in?” Minseok asked.

You know what? Fuck it. “Yeah, why not?”

Chanyeol barely paid attention to the game, only gaining interest when Kyungsoo made Jongin and Jia kiss. Jongin was in love with Jia. He just hadn’t figured it out himself yet. He was watching the two, wondering if Jongin was going to ask her out, and hoping he made better decisions than Chanyeol did. He was rooting for them until Jongin called out his name.

“Chanyeol! Truth or dare?” Hmm... truth or dare?

“Truth.”

“If you could tell a secret to someone in this room, who and what would it be?” Damn, maybe he should’ve picked dare.

He thought about it for a moment. Maybe this was his chance to make things right with you. Or maybe, he would mess things up even more, but really, how could anything else get more messed up at this point?

“Y/N… I would tell Y/N I loved her a year ago.”

Chanyeol heard a couple of gasps, but all he focused on was your eyes. You looked shocked, and really Chanyeol felt shocked. He didn’t know what he was going to say, but he wasn’t expecting that to come out. He watched you as your face went red. You got up, saying something about needing air. Then, Chanyeol watched as Junmyeon got up and followed you before he could even get himself to move.

He was aware that the rest of the members were staring at him. Some with wide eyes and open mouths, and some with caution. Not sure why he would bring that up or where he was going to go with it. Chanyeol was debating if he should go out there and talk to you or if he should give you some space.

He looked around the room and caught Sehun’s eyes. Sehun tilted his head toward the balcony, signaling for him to go out there and talk to you. He looked over at Jia next, and he could see in her expression that if he didn’t go out and talk to you, she would drag him out there.

Chanyeol stood up, took a deep breath, and walked out onto the balcony. He watched as you slowly turned around and met his eyes.

“Can we talk?”

Junmyeon spoke up from your side. “Maybe you should wait until your both sober.”

Chanyeol knew that was probably smart, but he ignored the older man anyway. “Please Y/N. I have to get this off my chest.”

Junmyeon attempted to stop him again, but Chanyeol cut him off, throwing respect out the window.

“No offense, hyung, but I’m not talking to you.” He said, turning towards Junmyeon.

“It’s okay, Myeon. I want to talk to him.”

Chanyeol wasn’t sure if you said that to save him from the pissed off look his leader was giving him or because you actually wanted to talk. Either way, it worked. After Junmyeon went back inside, Chanyeol moved towards the railing on the balcony, next to you.

You spun on him before he could collect his thoughts. “What the hell was that?”

“I’m sorry. I had to say it. I needed to tell you the truth.” He wasn’t really sorry, and he could tell you knew that.

“How come you never told me?” And here we go, time to fess up.

“I knew I was going to be away for a while, so I was gonna wait until I came back, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized I didn’t want to mess up our friendship. You’re too important to me, and I didn’t want to take the chance of ruining that.” He laughs. “But that’s exactly what I did anyway.”

Finally having it out in the open felt so good. He wanted to confess more.

“I miss you so much.” He whispered. “It’s not fair that we can’t be friends.”

You were quiet for a moment, probably processing everything he had just dumped on you.

“Do you still? Love me?” You asked quietly.

He closed his eyes. “Yeah… I do…” He responded, just as quiet. “I think about what we would be like together. I know we’d be perfect.”

“Then why are you with Daeun?” He opened his eyes. There it was. He couldn’t tell you the truth. He barely knew the truth himself at this point. All he knew was that he didn’t want to drag you into more of his mess, so he lied to you. Again.

“I love her more… I’m sorry…”

The look on your face was something he never wanted to see again. It was like someone physically struck you, and it made Chanyeol want to die right there. He felt sick to his stomach, wanting to take it back, but knowing that now it was out there, there was no going back.

He helplessly watched as you ran back inside. He followed behind you, but you were fast. You were already at the door before he was fully inside the room. He started to go after you but stopped when he saw Baekhyun get to you first. Again. Like always. He was always fucking there.

Chanyeol heard people asking him what the hell happened, but he tuned them all out. Going back to his seat and grabbing a cup full of alcohol, he downed it and continued like that for the rest of the night.


	13. Part 7

A few days had gone by since Chanyeol dropped a bombshell on you. Since that night, he has made zero attempts to contact you, which irritated you more than you could imagine. Who just tells someone they love them and then pretends it never happened? You felt like you were losing your damn mind with all of this back and forth.

Originally, you thought that maybe he was just drunk and embarrassed about what happened, but it wasn’t until you had lunch with Yixing that you found out that wasn’t the case.

“He did what?!”

Yixing nods. “He tried to punch Baekhyun.”

You stare at the man who was sitting across from you in disbelief. His every word blowing your mind more and more. “I can’t believe this… Why?”

Yixing looks at you with sad eyes. “Chanyeol was really pissed off that you left with Baekhyun that night. He was going on about how he admitted his feelings to you, and you still left with Baek, and how Baekhyun has feelings for you. Then, he tried to punch him. Minseok and Jongin stopped him.”

You put your head in your hands and groan. “Oh my god… I can’t believe this is happening.”

“It got worse when Baekhyun brought up Daeun. I think his exact words were, ‘Don’t forget, you already have a girlfriend, and it’s not Y/N.’”

You look up at Yixing with wide eyes. He shrugs at you and takes a sip of his tea.

After Yixing had blown your mind at lunch, you decided to lay low in your apartment for a few more days. It had been quiet. Your phone eerily silent, which you were happy about for once. You couldn’t understand what the heck was going on in Chanyeol’s mind. Why try to punch Baekhyun? And what did he mean when he said Baek liked you? Why was he even getting mad in the first place? He’s with Daeun for crying out loud!

All of this was making you stressed out, and you had always liked to snack when you were stressed out. Getting up from the couch, you head to the kitchen to grab something to munch on, but as soon as you walk into the kitchen, your phone starts ringing.

You stop walking and slowly turn around. You stare at your phone, which was sitting on the coffee table until it eventually stopped ringing. Of course, someone would call you the second you don’t want them to. It was like Murphy’s Law or something.

You continue grabbing a snack and head back to the couch. When you are mid-plop, your phone starts to ring again. Sighing, you pick it up and stare at the unknown number. No matter how much you wanted to, you couldn’t ignore it, in case it was an emergency. You sigh again before finally answering it.

“Y/N?” It was a female voice. Not one you instantly recognized, but it did sound familiar to you.

“Yes, who is this?”

It was quiet for a moment, like the person on the other end wasn’t sure if they were going to continue on with the conversation.

“It’s Daeun.”

A pit immediately formed in your stomach. Daeun? What the hell was Daeun calling you for, and how the heck did she even get your number? “Oh… Hi Daeun, what’s up?”

“I know this is random, but I was wondering if we could meet up and talk?”

“Talk? About what?”

“Chanyeol.”

Ah. There it is. You didn’t know why you even bother to ask. What else would the two of you have to talk about? “Yeah, okay. When were you thinking?”

“Is in an hour okay? At that café by Chan’s?”

“Yeah, I’ll be there.”

You hang up the phone and stare at it. Whaaaat theeee heck? What did she want to say? Was she going to tell you to stay away from Chanyeol herself? Did she know about the fight between the guys? Your mind was racing, and your stomach started to get that butterfly feeling.

An hour later, you walk into the café that Daeun had described. You spotted her right away since she chose a window seat for your meeting. She was dressed down in a black sweater and blue jeans. Her hair pinned up in a cute, messy bun. Even Daeun’s casual wear made her look gorgeous.

The closer you got to her, the more the butterflies in your stomach had intensified. As soon as she spots you, she stands up and gives you a small smile.

Returning her smile, you say, “Hey, how are you?”

She motions for you to take the seat opposite of her while replying. “Good, you?”

“Good, thanks.”

Once the two of you get the pleasantries out of the way, clearly neither of you know what to say, so an awkward silence ensues until she finally breaks it.

“Thank you for coming. I know this was kind of random.”

“Sure, no problem. What did you want to talk about?” You ask, even though you were pretty sure you had a good idea.

Looking down, she says, “I don’t really know how I should say this… so I apologize if I come off a certain way.”

You keep the expression on your face as neutral as possible. It would appear you were correct in assuming she called you here to tell you to stay away from Chanyeol.

“I feel like I’m competing with you.” She says as she plays with her hands in her lap.

Your eyes widen. “What?”

She finally looks up at you with determination in her eyes. “I know you like Chanyeol, and I know he likes you.”

“Daeun – “

“I heard you guys talking that night.” She smiles sadly.

That night…? You take a second to figure out what she’s referring to before it hits you. Game night? When you were on the balcony?? Oh my god…

“His window was open… The voices woke me up, and I overheard your conversation…”

An overwhelming amount of guilt washes over you. You had asked Chanyeol if he still loved you… You asked him why he was with her!

You close your eyes. “Daeun, I am so sorry…”

Sure, you weren’t her biggest fan, especially after she asked Chanyeol to stop being friends with you, but it made sense now. If she felt like she was competing with you, it was understandable that she would want you to stay away from her boyfriend.

“At first, I was mad, but I feel like I kind of knew too?” She sounds slightly confused. “I adore Chanyeol, and yeah, I love him… but I think you love him more.”

“Daeun, he loves you. More than he’s ever liked me.” You try to reassure the girl in front of you, but she shakes her head at you.

“I know he loves me, but he would never fight his best friend for me… Not that I’d want him to!” She amends. “That’s why I stole your number from him. I wanted to meet up with you… to tell you I’m gonna break up with him.”

Your eyes nearly doubled in size. “You’re what?! No, Daeun, please don’t do that. I never meant to come in between you two.”

“I think I’m the one who came in between the two of you.” She states simply.

You feel yourself starting to panic now. You knew Chanyeol would blame this on you somehow. He would find a way to make this your fault, especially with how unhinged he’s been acting.

“Please don’t do this… I’ll completely erase myself from his life. He’ll never see me again if I can help it.”

“No, I don’t want you to do that.” She waves off your offer. “Look, I thought this over many times, and this is what I want to do. I don’t ever want to be in a relationship where there’s a second girl. I think this is the best thing for all of us.” She says with an amount of confidence that you definitely were not feeling.

You couldn’t help but feel like the biggest ass in the entire world. Because of you, Chanyeol was going to lose someone he truly loves, and you also ended up hurting a girl who was actually very nice.

You spent the next 15 minutes trying to talk her out of it, but her mind was made up. After you got home, you immediately called Junmyeon. You desperately needed some big brother advice.

“Wow… that’s… wow.” He says, shocked.

“Myeon, what do I do?” You half whine.

He hesitates for a moment, knowing you weren’t going to like his response. “It sounds like her mind is pretty made up… I don’t think there’s anything you can do.”

“I can’t be the reason she breaks up with him.” You quietly say.

“I honestly wish there was something I could tell you to do, but I think you’re gonna have to sit back and let it play out. I’m sorry, little one.”

You sigh. “Thanks for listening, Myeon.”

For the next couple of hours, you pace your apartment, walking back and forth so much, you wouldn’t be surprised if you wore a path right through your living room. You couldn’t help yourself. When you sat down, you felt sick to your stomach, like when you were younger, and you knew you did something you were going to get yelled at for.

Was Daeun really going to break up with Chanyeol? You knew Chanyeol would find a way to blame it on you. It wasn’t your fault. You knew that subconsciously, even Daeun and Junmyeon told you it wasn’t, but that didn’t stop you from feeling like it was.

To add more guilt to the situation, your mind began to wander. If they did break up… would that mean… No. You weren’t going to allow yourself to finish that thought process.

As you are mentally arguing with yourself, your phone begins to ring. You hold your breath, knowing exactly who it was. Slowly looking down at the caller ID, you see his name. Chanyeol. Oh god. You were positive you were about to throw up. You brace yourself and try to calm down your racing heart.

Taking a deep breath, you answer. “Hello?”

“What did you say to her?!” He yells at you. You jump in surprise, though you had been expecting exactly that.

“Chany – “

“Don’t try to come up with some fucking bullshit excuse, Y/N. Daeun broke up with me because of you.”

“I told her not to break up with you!” You yell back at him.

He scoffs into the phone. “Yeah, I’m sure. You just asked me a few days ago why I was even with her.”

“Don’t you dare take that out of context. You know exactly why I asked that.” You growl. 

“If you thought Daeun and I breaking up would bring us together, you’re wrong. I love her, and I want to be with her.” He spits at you.

You were so angry and hurt by the words he was saying to you. A part of you wanted to fight with him. Scream and hurl insults right back at him and make him feel like you were feeling. While the other part of you wanted to curl up into a ball and avoid this entire conversation altogether.

“Daeun didn’t break up with you because of me.”

“Whatever. I’m done. I don’t want to talk to you anymore.” You hear a click and then the dial tone.

Sitting down on the couch, you couldn’t stop the tears from coming. When did your life become like this? When did Chanyeol become such a different person? In the past, you rarely fought. The two of you could never be angry with each other. This past year, it seems like that’s all you ever do.

A half an hour after the phone call, there’s a knock on your door. You ignore it, having no intention of answering it. You weren’t done feeling sorry for yourself, and you wouldn’t be for a long time.

The knocking continues, showing no signs of stopping, then you hear, “Noona, let me in!” You recognize the voice instantly, Sehun. Sighing, you get up and walk over to the door.

Shouting through the door, “I don’t want any company right now.”

“I don’t care. Let me in.” Sehun stubbornly responds.

You know once Sehun has something in mind, he doesn’t quit until he gets his way. There was no way he was leaving your building without coming inside and seeing you first.

“Sehun, seriously, you didn’t have to come over here.”

“I’ve got ice cream.” He tempts you.

You pause and quietly ask, “What kind?”

“You know exactly what kind.”

Debating for a moment, you open the door a crack. “Where is it?”

He holds the carton up, so you can see that he’s telling the truth. “You know you want it...” He sings.

You begrudgingly move to the side and let the tall man in. You watch as he takes off his shoes and walks over to your couch. After grabbing two spoons from the kitchen, you drop onto the couch next to him.

As you hand him a spoon, he says, “You know it’s not your fault.”

You nod without saying a word, eyes only focusing on the carton of ice cream in front of you.

“Chanyeol will realize it eventually, too.”

“I don’t know… He can be kind of dense sometimes.”

Sehun laughs. “Anyway, who cares about him. We’re going to finish eating this ice cream and then go dance it all off.”

“I don’t feel like dancing.” You grumble.

Sehun stares at you like you’ve suddenly grown a second head. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you say that… Well, it’s not gonna matter cause Jongin’s on his way to join us.” He says with a wide smile that was creeping you out.

“Why are you smiling like that?”

He shrugs his shoulders. “Because Jongin lost a bet.”

Your eyes go wide. “Oh no, what did you do to that poor boy?”

You watch as he got up from the couch and completely ignored your question. You continue to yell as he walks away from you.

“Sehun! What did you do?!”


	14. Part 7 (Chanyeol's POV)

He didn’t mean it. He really did not mean to go after Baekhyun. Chanyeol had no idea what had come over him. He was officially starting to lose his mind.

The day after the game night, Chanyeol was still fuming. At first, he thought, how could you have left with Baekhyun after he told you how he felt? Then he remembered how he told you he loved Daeun more... Why wouldn’t you leave with Baekhyun? Shit, he would leave with Baekhyun if he were you.

The problem was that he had been lying. He didn’t love her more. He loved you, but you didn’t know that. Nobody knew that, but as his best friend, he was hoping Baekhyun would never try to get with you. Chanyeol always had this weird feeling that Baekhyun had a crush on you, but he tried to ignore it. Baekhyun knew how Chanyeol felt about you, and he respected whatever relationship the two of you had.

Chanyeol literally had no right to be mad at anyone. This entire fucked up situation was completely his fault, and he had dragged everyone into his mess. Yet, that didn’t stop him from feeling anger and jealousy the second Baekhyun walked back into the dorm room.

Before Chanyeol realized what he was doing, he was on his feet and across the room, getting into the shorter man's face.

“So, you’re making your move, huh?”

Baekhyun looked up at Chanyeol with a guarded expression. “Chanyeol, what’re you talking about?”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about, Baekhyun. You’ve always had a little crush on her, haven’t you?”

He sighed and attempted to calm down the taller man. “Are you still drunk? Why don’t you calm down?”

“Do not tell me to calm down!” He shouted at him.

Minseok, who was in the living room with them, stood up. “Chanyeol, you need to relax.”

Completely ignoring the older man, Chanyeol continued on. “I bet you just couldn’t wait for me to mess up, could you? I tell her how I feel, and she still leaves with you.”

Baekhyun, who had been slowly running out of patience with Chanyeol, said, “You need to get out of my face.”

“Or what, Baekhyun? Hmm?” He heard a couple of the guys coming into the living room to see what was going on, but he couldn’t stop himself.

“Why are you even pissed off? Don’t forget, you already have a girlfriend, and it’s not Y/N.” Baekhyun spits out, finally showing the anger that Chanyeol was looking for.

After that, he lost it. He saw red, and before he realized what he was doing, his arm was reaching back, and he was about to punch Baekhyun in his face. Two men grabbed him from both sides, but Chanyeol didn’t even bother looking at who it was as they dragged him away. All he could do was look at Baekhyun, who was staring at him with a look of shock, hurt, and sadness, and at that moment, Chanyeol wanted to die.

Chanyeol waited for everyone who was staying in the dorm to fall asleep. Then, he left. He went to his apartment, where he locked the door, turned off his phone, and hid for days. He couldn’t face anyone. He had now hurt the two people who meant the most to him in the span of 12 hours.

There were three different times where he heard knocking on his door, but he ignored whoever it was trying to contact him, knowing they’d go away eventually. He didn’t know how he was going to fix this or get past it. He didn’t see how there was a way for him to make everything right again.

When a couple more days went by, he knew he couldn’t hide any longer. He had stuff to do with EXO, and he was sure his manager was two seconds away from calling the police. Chanyeol had gone 5 days without talking to or seeing another human being. It was on the fifth day, he knew he couldn’t avoid everyone anymore.

Turning on his phone, he winced when it started vibrating like crazy. Just when he thought it wasn’t going to end, it did. He picked it up to see he had almost 200 text messages and about 100 missed phone calls. Scrolling through everything, he notices every single one of his members, including Baekhyun, had attempted to contact him. As well as the managers and CEO of SM, Daeun, and even you.

Chanyeol knew he was going to be in big trouble once he left his apartment, which tempted him to stay in there even longer. He knew he couldn’t do that though, he couldn’t worry everyone any more than they already were. It was time to face the music and accept the consequences.

Not knowing who to contact first, he called his leader. It rang for about two seconds before Junmyeon screamed into the phone.

“Chanyeol! Where the fuck have you been?!”

He was almost afraid to answer the older man. “I’m sorry, hyung.” He whispered.

“Get your ass to SM now. You have a lot of explaining to do.”

Knowing this was exactly what he had to do. He quietly agreed to head over to the company.

“Oh, and Chanyeol?”

He hums to let Junmyeon know he heard him. He was too afraid to speak any actual words.

“I’m glad you’re okay.”

The whole rest of the day was spent apologizing to almost everyone he had ever met. He got into a little bit of trouble for going MIA, but it was nothing he didn’t deserve. He also got on his knees and started apologizing to his members, who were all just happy he was okay. They were his brothers, and they had forgiven him, which brought tears to his eyes. However, there was one member in particular that he needed to talk to in private.

“Baekhyun… can I talk to you?”

Baekhyun nodded, and they walked into his bedroom in the dorm. Chanyeol had no idea where to start or how to apologize. There was never a time in their friendship where one had attempted to physically hurt the other. Yes, they got into their fights, but that was bound to happen when you spent nearly every waking moment together.

All the members were his brothers, but he had always been the closest with Baekhyun. There was not a single secret that the other didn’t know about. Their close friendship was felt worldwide and even resulted in a ship name for them. ChanBaek.

Once they got into the room, neither of them knew what to do, so they both stood there awkwardly. Knowing he had to say something, Chanyeol spoke first.

“I am so sorry, Baek. I don’t know why I would ever want to hurt you. You’re my brother and I love you.” Chanyeol wasn’t ashamed when he felt tears sliding down his cheeks.

Baekhyun was silent, watching him. “Chanyeol, I need to know what is going on with you… Let me help you.”

“I wouldn’t even know where to begin…”

Baekhyun had sat down on the bed and patted the spot next to him, silently telling him to come sit down. Chanyeol slowly moved to the bed and sat down next to his brother.

“You start from the beginning, Chan.” That was such a Baekhyun thing to say that Chanyeol would’ve laughed if the situation was different.

Chanyeol told Baekhyun everything. All his feelings towards you and Daeun. His confusion and pain. Baekhyun sat there and listened to every single word, never once interrupting or getting bored. It was so nice to get everything out. His talk with Sehun helped him figure some things out before, and now talking with Baekhyun was starting to make everything clearer.

Chanyeol needed some space from both you and Daeun. He had to figure out what he was going to do. If he was going to stay with Daeun, or if he was going to end it with her and focus on trying something with you. It was something he needed to sit down and contemplate on.

“I forgive you by the way.”

Chanyeol’s head snapped up, and he looked over at Baekhyun. Those words made Chanyeol tear up all over again. How did he have so many amazing people around him?

“Thank you so much, Baek…” He said quietly.

“Yeah, yeah, just don’t do it again. Or I’ll have to hurt you.” Chanyeol laughed and pulled his best friend into a tight hug.

It was just a few hours later when his decision was ripped away from him. Daeun had stopped by his apartment, but he knew something wasn’t right when she looked at him.

“Yeol, we have to talk…”

As soon as he heard those words, he felt panic begin to crawl through his body. Whenever anyone said those words, it always led to something horrible, and Chanyeol had a feeling he knew what.

As they sat on his couch, Daeun gently grabbed Chanyeol’s hands and held onto them. “Chanyeol, I love you, but I don’t think we should be together anymore…”

“What did I do?” He asked quietly. She hesitated only for a second before answering him.

“I know how you feel about Y/N, and I think that you guys should figure out what is going on between the two of you.”

Wait, how did she know how he felt about you? Did he do something that would give her that idea? “Daeun, why would you think I have feelings for Y/N?”

She gave him an amusing stare. “Chanyeol, come on… All I have to do is bring up her name… You always show so much emotion whenever she is brought up, and you have never been that way with me.”

“That’s not true…” He was starting to panic. He didn’t know what he wanted yet, but it seems like his choice was about to be made for him.

“You disappeared for five days after fighting with your best friend over her, Yeol. I think that says enough right there. Plus, I think this is for the best, for all of us. I don’t want to be a second choice, Chanyeol.”

“You’re not a second choice, Daeun.”

She bit her lip, contemplating. “My decision is already made, Chanyeol, I’m sorry…”

“Let me explain to you how I feel… maybe that will change – “

She interrupted him before he could finish his sentence. “My mind is made up, nothing is going to change that. I told Y/N the same thing.”

“Y/N? You talked to Y/N about this? Before talking to me?” How and when did the two of you even talk? What did you say to her that made her come up with this decision?

She nervously bit her lip. “Umm, yeah… I called her, and we met up. I told her what I was going to do…”

“Did she talk you into breaking up with me?” He immediately questioned.

“What? Chanyeol, no.” Daeun attempted to stop him from jumping to conclusions, but it was already to late.

“Where else would this have come from? Someone had to have been saying something to you. Just because I got into an argument with Baekhyun does not mean I want to be with someone. Is that what she told you?” He was becoming so angry, and he didn’t know why. Wasn’t this exactly what he wanted?

“First of all, Chanyeol, I can think for myself. Secondly, this is not Y/N’s fault. I had already made a decision.”

For some reason, he didn’t believe what she was saying. If she had come to you and told you she was going to break up with him, what would you have said? You probably would’ve been okay with it, right? You had asked him why he was even with her last week. Maybe you thought this was your opportunity.

He was pissed off. He didn’t even get the chance to decide for himself. Everyone else had decided for him. He knew he was overreacting, but it wasn’t something he could control in that moment. He had always been an emotional person, and sometimes he didn’t know how to handle those emotions. This was one of those times.

The logical thing to do was let Daeun explain herself to him, but she had left not long after she dumped him. He barely remembered her leaving. He was so caught up in his own mind. However, he hadn’t been thinking logically for a very long time. Whenever he cared about someone, he cared deeply, too deeply, and he threw all logic out of the window.

He was dialing your phone number before stopping to think that maybe this wasn’t the best idea. He shouldn’t take this out on you. If Daeun, said it wasn’t you, then it wasn’t. Well, then why was he calling you? He had to know what you said to Daeun during your talk. She wouldn’t break up with him just because he fought with Baekhyun. There had to be more.

“Hello?”

“What did you say to her?!” He yelled. Why the fuck was he yelling?

“Chany – “. He cut you off before you could talk some sense into him.

“Don’t try to come up with some fucking bullshit excuse, Y/N. Daeun broke up with me because of you.”

You weren’t going to take his shit. Ironically, it was one of the things he admired most about you. “I told her not to break up with you!”

He scoffed into the phone. “Yeah, I’m sure. You just asked me a few days ago why I was even with her.”

“Don’t you dare take that out of context. You know exactly why I asked that.” You growled. 

“If you thought Daeun and I breaking up would bring us together, you’re wrong. I love her, and I want to be with her.” He spat.

“Daeun didn’t break up with you because of me.” Deep down, he knew the words you said were true, but all rational thought was gone.

“Whatever. I’m done. I don’t want to talk to you anymore.” He hung up the phone before you could respond.

For the next couple of hours, Chanyeol sat on the couch and contemplated life. He contemplated how he felt about Daeun. How he felt about you. The entire phone call he had with you. He contemplated everything.

The conclusion he came to was that he was unhappy. He had been unhappy for the entire past year.

He was never truly happy with his relationship with Daeun. He never even gave her a fair chance. He got with her in an attempt to get over you. He never put everything he had into that relationship. He just dragged her around like his puppet, and it wasn’t fair to her. A part of him wished he could redo their relationship and show Daeun that he could be a good boyfriend.

He also concluded that he wasn’t happy about any of the decisions he’s been making about you. Most importantly, he wasn’t happy with himself. He had been lying to himself and everyone else nonstop for the past year. He had been dragging you around, just like Daeun, and he wasn’t being fair to either of you.

He needed a break from you. He had to figure out how he really felt about you and not hold onto the emotions he had a year ago. Both of you had changed, and now he had to rediscover the person he was.

Lastly, he also realized that he wasn’t okay, and he didn’t know when he would be.


	15. Part 8

A week had gone by since your phone conversation with Chanyeol. You were finding it harder and harder to keep up with him. One moment the two of you were fine, and then the next, you were mad at each other. You were so tired of this back and forth with him, but it was so foreign to you that you didn’t know what to do about it. So, you did exactly as he asked. You stayed away from him, and it really sucked. Your feelings were still there, but at this point, you wished they would stop. Maybe it was time to move on from Park Chanyeol.

To keep your mind off him, you threw yourself into dance. You spent all your free time practicing and coming up with new choreography. Other than that, you were at work or hanging out with Jia. You hadn’t seen much of the boys because it was award season, although you did hear they broke another major record. You were so happy for them and also extremely proud of them.

They had invited you over for a small celebration due to their newest accomplishment. At first, you tried to talk yourself out of going, but you immediately scrapped that idea. You loved those boys, and you wanted them to know how proud you were of them. You weren’t going to let what Chanyeol said stop you from supporting the other 8. You were not that type of friend.

When you and Jia had shown up at their place, all the boys were excited to see you, minus one. When you met Chanyeol’s eyes, he immediately turned around and ignored you. Staying away from him, you greeted the other SM employees that had shown up and then clung to Jia for the next hour.

You were pouring yourself a drink, a very strong one at that, when you heard the people from SM leave. That meant it was the usual gang left, and Jongdae was calling for drinks, which you gladly poured down your throat. You weren’t the only one throwing the drinks back, and with every cup Chanyeol downed, the more attention he started to pay to you. Too bad it wasn’t good attention.

“You should ask Y/N. She loves to stick her nose where it doesn’t belong.”

You take a deep breath. This was the fifth snide remark Chanyeol has made at your expense. Each one digging its way into your heart, no matter how much you try to ignore it. It wasn’t just you either. With each comment, the boys were growing more and more agitated as well.

“Chanyeol.” Junmyeon attempts to scold him.

“What, hyung? Did you have something to add?” Chanyeol asks with a giant smirk on his face.

His cocky attitude only made Junmyeon more irritated. “Knock it off.”

“Way to be a leader Junmyeon.” Chanyeol barks out a laugh before mockingly whispering, “ In case you missed it, Y/N’s not actually in our group.”

“Chanyeol, that’s enough.” Minseok tries to get control of the situation before it spirals.

“Of course, of course. Why would I be surprised that everyone takes her side? It’s the same shit every time.” Chanyeol says, slurring his words.

“Grow up, hyung.” Sehun mutters while rolling his eyes.

“And here we have Oh Sehun trying to act all big and bad.”

You watched Chanyeol as he made these comments. Noticing his eyes were half-closed and bloodshot, you knew he would regret everything he was saying tomorrow.

This wasn’t the Chanyeol you knew. He would never talk to his other members like this. This was someone who was lashing out. Someone who was trying to hurt everyone and make them feel how he felt.

You hated seeing him like this, it hurt you. That’s why you allowed every remark that he had been saying about you, but this was starting to get out of hand.

“Chanyeol, you’re mad at me. Quit taking it out on your friends.”

He looks at you, kind of. You could barely see his eyes at this point. “You’re right. How about you get the fuck out of our dorm? That would make everything a lot better.”

“Chanyeol!” Minseok shouts.

Apparently, that had been your last straw. You were hurt, pissed off, and ready to argue, so you let him have it. “You know what, Chanyeol? I didn’t say shit to Daeun. I told her not to break up with you. It was because of what you told me outside that she dumped you. So, quit trying to put all of your fucking problems on me.” You stand up. “God, Chanyeol. What happened to you? When did you become this person? I hate him.”

Grabbing your stuff, you walk out of the dorm. If Chanyeol wanted you to leave, then you would. You didn’t want to be anywhere you weren’t wanted.

As you were going down the hallway, you hear the dorm door open and close. Mentally preparing yourself, you turn and see the same person you always saw. The person who ran after you time and time again.

Baekhyun was always trying to save you and follow you, even when he had nothing to do with what happened. He was always the first to comfort you, and it made you feel bad. It wasn’t his responsibility. You tried to tell him this, but he refused to hear any of it.

Instead, he managed to distract you for a couple of hours, doing whatever he could to keep your mind off Chanyeol, but your mind kept going back to him regardless.

“Do you remember that time we went bowling? You let go of the ball too early and it flung backward?” Baekhyun laughs.

“Shut up, Baekhyun. That was my first time!”

“I thought Jongdae was gonna choke on his pretzel. Who did it almost hit?? I can’t remember…” He brings his hand up to his nose and taps it, thinking. “Was it Yixing? No… it was… oh…” His eyes widen when he realizes.

“Chanyeol.”

“I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to bring him up…”

“It’s not your fault, Baek. He’s in all our stories. He was always there.” You stare at the coffee table. “Why is he being like this? This isn’t like him.”

He sighs. “Honestly, I don’t know what’s going on with him. We talked a couple of days ago, and he was pretty confused and lost. It’s really hard to see.”

You turn to look at the man sitting next to you on the couch. Baekhyun looked so sad, and you couldn’t help but feel like this was your fault. If whatever was going on between you and Chanyeol wasn’t happening, his friendship with Baekhyun would be fine.

Looking over at you he says, “He’s trying to get her back.”

You nod at his words, not really surprised. He wasn’t the type of person to give up when he put his mind to it.

“You’re okay with that?” Baekhyun scoffs.

You shrug your shoulders in response. “What am I supposed to do? I’m so tired of all of this.”

“Then let him go.”

“What?” You ask, not sure you heard him right.

Completely serious, he says, “You heard me. Move on. Find someone who actually cares about you and is willing to show you.”

“Baekhyun…”

“Don’t. Don’t tell me it's not that easy. Don’t give me some weak excuse.” He says as he turns his body towards you.

“It's not though…”

“What is it about him? What does he have that’s so special?”

Baekhyun was becoming so annoyed, and it was making you confused. You knew he was as tired of the back and forth as you were, but he was becoming more annoyed than necessary.

“Why can’t you fall for someone else?”

You were quiet for a moment, choosing your next words carefully. “Someone like you?”

“Yes. Me.”

You hadn’t realized that he had been moving closer to you during your conversation. Not until he placed his hands gently around the back of your head and slowly pulled you to him. Your lips landing softly on his. You were shocked at first, but you kissed him back.

You let the kiss go on a little longer but then pulled away. All you could do was stare at the man in front of you. His lips red and his eyes wide. Your mind was attempting to process what had just happened. Baekhyun had kissed you, and you let him.

“Bae – “

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.” He quickly says as he backs away.

“You don’t have to apologize.”

As he moves further away on the couch, he says, “Yes, I do. I know you don’t like me like that. I know you love Chanyeol, and I was being inconsiderate.”

You thought about what he said. You did love Baekhyun, but you weren’t in love with Baekhyun. The kiss proved that to you. He wasn’t a bad kisser by any means, but it didn’t give you that spark like Chanyeol did. Well, like Chanyeol use to.

“I’m sorry, Baek. I really am…” You whisper. “Especially if I led you to think something would happen between us…”

“No, you haven’t. I just, sort of, hoped that one day there could’ve been.”

You felt really bad for ever giving him false hope. You wanted to comfort him, but you didn’t know how, so you quietly ask, “Are we gonna be okay?

“I was just gonna ask you that…” He says quietly, with a small smile on his face.

“I would like us to be.”

He pulls you into a tight hug without any hesitation and mumbles in your hair. “Me too.”

“Thennnn we are?” You ask as he pulls away from you causing him to laugh.

“Good, but just so you know, I’m 100% a better kisser than Chanyeol. You can admit it, it’s okay.”

The way Baekhyun was able to immediately jump into a joking mood after an awkward moment was incredible. “You are not really trying to go there right now, are you?”

“I mean, I just want to make sure you realize what you’re letting go. I’m a catch, you know.” He winks at you.

Patting his back, you say, “Yes you are, Baek. Yes, you are.”

“So, when are we going bowling again?”

And just like that, your relationship with him went back to normal. You loved how easy things were with Baekhyun.


	16. Part 8 (Chanyeol's POV)

Chanyeol had gone a week without talking to you or Daeun, and he was kind of proud of himself for it. He decided to spend most of his time with the members or by himself, and it felt really good. He didn’t remember the last time he had a moment to be by himself, and it turned out to be exactly what he needed. Getting away from you and Daeun allowed him to try to figure out what he wanted, and time to think about the mistakes he has made.

He needed to call Daeun and talk about why she broke up with him. He had to know what the two of you talked about, but she wasn’t answering his phone calls, which made him frustrated all over again. Logically, he knew you probably didn’t say anything to make Daeun break up with him, but he needed to hear what she had to say, and until then, he was going to stay away from you. That sounded good, in theory.

EXO had broken a major record, and the guys wanted to have a mini get-together with some close friends. Chanyeol knew you would be there, and he decided he would try to keep his distance, but he knew the exact moment you walked in... like there was a magnetic pull between the two of you. When he saw you by the door with Jia, he tried to ignore you, but you caught him staring at you almost immediately. He spun around and put his back towards you, so he wouldn’t make that mistake again, but he did multiple times throughout the night.

Chanyeol was bored during the party. He usually hung out with you whenever they had these types of gatherings, but he was determined to get some space from you. To keep his mind occupied, he kept making himself different alcoholic drinks, experimenting with whatever was in the dorm. His eyes kept wandering over to you, and it was irritating him. Why couldn’t he ignore you whenever you were in the same room as him? And who gave you the right to look so damn good?

He appreciated the way the red dress curved your body, and he definitely appreciated the length of it. Short enough to catch attention, but not short enough to get called out on it. You had on the same little gold necklace that you always wore. You wore it nearly every day, and Chanyeol wondered if you remembered that he was the one who gave it to you for your birthday 5 years back.

He snapped himself out of his thoughts, noticing the people from work leaving. How long had he been sitting there thinking about you? Damn it, he wasn’t supposed to be thinking about you.

For the past hour, he had been doing a great job of ignoring you because he had been in his own world. A world that was becoming more and more blurred by the second. Why was the room getting fuzzy, and why was his mouth so dry? He brought his drink up to his mouth to wet his lips and recognized the bitter taste of alcohol. Oh yeah, that’s why.

For the next half an hour, he casually watched you interact with the other members. It was so easy with them… They made you laugh until you couldn’t breathe and made you smile so wide, he knew your cheeks had to be hurting. Why wasn’t it that easy for him anymore? Why had he been so stupid?

He sat there, watching blurred versions of you and Baekhyun laughing together. He watched as Baekhyun put his hand on the small of your back and how he kept pulling you closer to him. Why were you letting him do that? Did you finally realize that you might have feelings for Baekhyun? Did you decide that you wanted to try things out with him instead?

Chanyeol was making himself angrier with each passing moment. Maybe the alcohol had something to do with it (of course it did, it always does), and he was also starting to feel hot all over. He wanted your attention, but at the same time, he didn’t want your attention, and it confused him and gave him a headache.

After that, Chanyeol didn’t remember much. He remembered everyone making a toast (kind of), and he remembered everyone sitting at the table. He vaguely remembered you touching Sehun’s hand and putting your hand on Baekhyun’s shoulder, and then he remembered anger. Why was he angry?

“How can we find out, hyung?” Kyungsoo asked one of the older members. Chanyeol had no idea what they were talking about, but he was ready to argue for some reason.

“You should ask Y/N. She loves to stick her nose where it doesn’t belong.” Wait, who just said that?

“Chanyeol.” He heard Junmyeon say. Oh, he said that? Hmm… Well, why stop now?

“What, hyung? Did you have something to add?” Chanyeol asked, feeling a smirk grow on his face.

He could tell he was starting to piss off Junmyeon, and he was having more fun doing it than he should be. “Knock it off.”

Laughing, he said, “Way to be a leader, Junmyeon. In case you missed it, Y/N’s not actually in our group.” He made sure to whisper the last part mockingly.

“Chanyeol, that’s enough.” Minseok tried to get control of the situation before it spiraled. Chanyeol knew he should shut up, but he couldn’t stop himself, and he knew he would regret this in the morning.

“Of course, of course. Why would I be surprised that everyone takes her side? It’s the same shit every time.” Chanyeol said, slurring his words.

“Grow up, hyung,” Sehun muttered while rolling his eyes.

“And here we have Oh Sehun trying to act all big and bad.”

You spoke up, gaining back all his attention. “Chanyeol, you’re mad at me. Quit taking it out on your friends.”

He looked at you, kind of. Did you put on a different dress? He liked this one. The red really looked good on you. What had you just said? Oh yeah, you mentioned that he was mad at you. “You’re right. How about you get the fuck out of our dorm? That would make everything a lot better.”

“Chanyeol!” Minseok shouted. Geez, why was he being so loud?

“You know what, Chanyeol? I didn’t say shit to Daeun. I told her not to break up with you. It was because of what you told me outside that she dumped you. So, quit trying to put all of your fucking problems on me.” You stood up. “God, Chanyeol. What happened to you? When did you become this person? I hate him.”

Chanyeol watched as you gathered your things and walked into the bathroom. Why were you taking all your things into the bathroom? That didn’t make sense… You were so silly. He watched Baekhyun follow you into the bathroom, and then he started to feel pissed off again.

“What the fuck is with you, hyung?”

He turned to look at Jongin, who was standing in front of his chair. “Who’s Kihyun?” He asked the younger boy, confused.

“What?” Jongin looked back at someone, confused by his question. Why was he confused? He was the one who said it.

He heard someone sigh. “Help me take him to his room.” After that, everything went black.

When he woke up the next afternoon, he had a pounding headache, and he felt like he was dying. Why was he in his dorm room? He must’ve crashed here, not wanting to go home. Looking over at the nightstand, he saw a note next to some pain relievers and a glass of water. Picking up the note, he noticed it was in Minseok’s handwriting.

Take these, asshole.

Asshole? Why was he an asshole? He swallowed the pills and decided to stay in his bed until they kicked in. Once he started to feel better, he got up and went out into the kitchen to see who was all there. Walking into the kitchen, he was met with 5 boys and complete silence. He looked at the members, seeing Jongin, Sehun, Minseok, Kyungsoo, and Junmyeon, who was glaring at him.

“Morning, guys.” He attempted to start a conversation, not sure why everyone was so quiet. When he was met with more silence, he knew something was wrong. “What’s going on?”

Junmyeon was the one to speak up. “Do you think I’m not doing my job as leader, Chanyeol?”

Chanyeol stopped what he was doing and looked at his leader like he was crazy. “What’re you talking about, hyung?”

Sehun scoffed. “You’re unbelievable. “

Now he was really confused. What the heck were they talking about? “Seriously, what’s going on?”

“Do you not remember last night?” Minseok asked.

Chanyeol tried to recall last night but came up with mostly blanks. He looked at the older member questioningly. Minseok sighed and grabbed Chanyeol’s arm, pulling him into the living room. Minseok turned towards him with a frustrated look on his face.

“You said a lot of bad shit last night, Chanyeol, and I don’t know how you’re going to make up for it.”

Chanyeol had a really bad feeling in his gut. His mind trying to recall what happened, but it was almost like he blocked everything out. “What did I say, hyung?” He asked quietly.

Minseok sighed. “Basically, you called Junmyeon’s leadership skills into question, tried to start shit with Sehun, and told Y/N that she sticks her nose in everyone’s business and to get the fuck out of the dorms.”

Chanyeol stared at the older man with fear. He didn’t do any of that. He couldn’t have done any of that. There was no way… Flashes of the night before started coming back to him. Junmyeon and Minseok yelling at him. You giving him a piece of your mind and leaving. Baekhyun leaving with you.

He felt like he was going to be sick. Chanyeol started pacing the living room. “No. Hyung, no… Please tell me that this is a bad dream… I wouldn’t do any of that… Please…”

He started to cry. He couldn’t have done that, but he knew he did, and there was no way to erase it. He ran to the bathroom, knowing he was about to throw up whatever was in his body.

After he was finished purging what remained in his body, he stayed in there. He wanted to hide forever and pretend this was all a bad dream. Even worse, he could hear the members talking about him from the kitchen.

“I don’t care if he doesn’t remember any of it. There has to be consequences.”

“I think dealing with the aftermath of last night will be consequence enough.”

Finally gathering the courage, he walked out into the kitchen. Everyone went silent again, watching him.

“I’m sorry, hyung.” He said, looking up at Junmyeon. “I think you’re an amazing leader, and I would never follow anyone else. I don’t know why I said anything about you. I’m sorry, and I love you. I’ll take whatever punishment you give me.”

Junmyeon sighed. “I’m not going to punish you, Chanyeol, but you need to make amends with everyone.”

He nods. “I know, I will. I’m sorry again.” Turning to Sehun. “I’m sorry to you too, Sehun. I know we argue sometimes, but I never mean anything hurtful that I say. You mean the world to me.”

“Hyung, you need to get a grip on reality before you drag yourself down and the rest of us with you.”

“I know. I know. I’m going to work on it. I’m sorry for dragging all of you through this mess, but I’m going to sort it out, and then I’m going to make it all up to you.” He said, meeting each member in the eye.

“I hope, for your sake, you figure everything out,” Junmyeon said.

He was going to, and he was going to do it right now.

Chanyeol walked back to his room and grabbed his phone from the nightstand. Scrolling down until he saw Daeun’s name, he clicked on the icon and pressed call. It rang for a minute before she answered.

“Chanyeol? What’s going on?”

“I just need to talk to you…”

“I already told you – “

He cut her off, not willing to take no as an answer. “Daeun, I just need to know why, and then you’ll never have to hear from me again.”

She sighed. “Alright, Yeol.” He sat down on his bed, ready to listen. “I broke up with you because I know you weren’t as into the relationship as I was, and before you argue with me, I’m going to tell you why.” She paused, probably waiting to see if he was going to interrupt, but he stayed silent. “I always had a feeling that there was something between you and Y/N. You were always staring at old text messages from her, and I can’t tell you how many times I saw you attempting to type a message to her.” She saw that?

“At first, I thought that was fine because I knew she was special to you. Then, when we went out to the bar, the two of you completely ignored me. I tried to tell myself it was just because you guys had a lot of catching up to do, but deep down, I knew it was something more than that. After that, there was the dorm room incident. When I walked in on you almost on top of her. I know you guys were just playing around, but I could see the chemistry between the two of you, and I felt threatened. At that point, I knew you guys had unfinished business.”

Chanyeol was feeling really, really guilty. He never thought how all of that would look to Daeun. He never really thought about Daeun at all when you were around.

“I thought if I could separate the two of you, everything would be okay, but that only made you more miserable. Then game night happened… Chanyeol, I heard the conversation between the two of you when you were on the balcony…” She quietly said.

Everything clicked right there. That was how Daeun found out he had feelings for you. It wasn’t anything you said. It was the conversation you two had when he told you he loved you. He thought back to that night and recalled how he was saying how perfect you would be together and how he loved you.

He paused for a moment, trying to figure out how she would’ve heard the two of you. Then he remembered how he had opened the window when he brought her to his room, so she could get fresh air.

“Daeun, I’m really sorry for dragging you through all of this…”

“I know, Yeol… I just have to ask… Did you ever really care about me?”

He felt the guilt clawing at him. He never wanted to hurt Daeun. She definitely did not deserve any of the pain he caused her. “Yes, I did, and I don’t want you to doubt that. When I met you, I was in a weird place. All I ever thought about was Y/N, but you made me forget about her for a while. I do love you, Daeun. You were an amazing girlfriend, so I don’t want you to think any of this was your fault. It was completely on me.”

“I know it’s none of my business now, but are you going to ask her out?”

He thought about it for a moment, wanting to finally give someone an honest answer. “No. At least not right now. I have to figure myself out before getting into another relationship… but I would like to in the future. I know that’s probably not something you want to hear…”

“No, Yeol, I think it’s great. You absolutely should figure out what you want first. In the future, if you guys do get together, I really wish you good luck. I hope you two find happiness.”

“Why are you so great?” He quietly joked. “But thank you. I hope you find happiness also. You deserve it.”

“Thanks, Yeol. Have a good life.”

“You too, Dae.”

When he hit the end call button, it felt like a chapter of his life had finished. He was ready to start a new one, and hopefully, you would be in it someday.


	17. Part 8 (Baekhyun's POV)

Baekhyun was confused and stuck in between a rock and a hard place. He liked you, but he knew he shouldn’t. Whatever was going on between you and Chanyeol had started long before he developed any feelings towards you. You had always been one of his closest best friends. He always thought of you as more of a sister, and he had no idea when that changed.

Chanyeol, on the other hand, was his brother, and he knew Chanyeol liked you. There was even a time when Chan had told Baekhyun that he loved you, so it severely confused Baekhyun when Daeun entered the picture. Baekhyun had no idea what had happened, but something changed in Chanyeol when they went on tour, and ever since, his friend had been having a rough time.

He was either fighting with the members or you, which was so unlike Chanyeol that Baekhyun was really worried about him. He thought that after they had their conversation, Chanyeol had figured something out. He seemed like he had an idea of what he was going to do, but then Daeun broke up with him, and Chanyeol freaked out on you. That was another thing that confused Baekhyun.

Baekhyun didn’t want to betray his brother, but he felt like Chanyeol no longer deserved to be with you. He hadn’t been treating you well for months now, and Baekhyun didn’t feel as guilty for having feelings towards you. Maybe he could have a chance with you…

While they were having their mini celebration party, Baekhyun had pretty much spent most of his time with you. You were fun to be around, but he wasn’t stupid. He noticed you glancing over at Chanyeol multiple times. Waiting to see if he would come talk to you.

What you didn’t notice, and Baekhyun had no intention of pointing it out, was that Chanyeol had his eyes practically glued to you, until you would glance at him. Chanyeol had always been an expert at watching you without your knowledge. He had been doing it for years.

Throughout the night, Baekhyun had been keeping a close eye on Chanyeol. He had noticed how many drinks his friend was having and was hoping he would stop soon. Baekhyun had literally lost count of how many drinks Chanyeol had downed, and he sadly watched as Chanyeol’s eyelids continued to slide lower and lower.

When everyone was sitting at the table hanging out, Chanyeol kept making little digs at you, growing bolder and bolder with each drink. You were taking it in stride, being ridiculously understanding. Way more understanding than Baekhyun would’ve been. With each remark, the members were growing more anxious, knowing that lines were going to be crossed tonight, but hoping that maybe Chanyeol would pass out instead.

That was until one especially rude comment was made about you, and Junmyeon had enough. Attempting to scold Chanyeol had proved pointless, though, because Chanyeol had then turned on their leader and eventually Sehun too.

Baekhyun watched with profound sadness. He wanted to help his friend, but all of his friends were being hurt at this point. Just when Baekhyun was going to attempt to get Chanyeol to go to sleep, you tried to get Chanyeol to leave his members alone. It worked great for them but terrible for you.

“You’re right. How about you get the fuck out of our dorm? That would make everything a lot better.”

Baekhyun froze at Chanyeol’s words. He never, in a million years, pictured hearing those words come out of his mouth. It was like everything came to a stop. The members all collectively held their breaths until some sense came into Minseok, and he yelled at the younger man.

Baekhyun, now worried about you, turned to watch your face. You were trying to hold it in up until that point, but that was it for you. You were going to let Chanyeol have a piece of your mind, and it was exactly what the asshole deserved at the moment.

“You know what, Chanyeol? I didn’t say shit to Daeun. I told her not to break up with you. It was because of what you told me outside that she dumped you. So, quit trying to put all of your fucking problems on me.” You stood up. “God, Chanyeol. What happened to you? When did you become this person? I hate him.” You grabbed your stuff and walked out of the dorm.

Everything after that happened so fast, that Baekhyun wasn’t sure if he should stay behind with Chanyeol or go after you. Once he saw Jongin get up and head towards Chanyeol, he took off after you. You didn’t need to be alone right now, and Chanyeol needed to go to sleep anyway.

He ran out into the hall and found you immediately. You turned to see who had come out into the hallway, and Baekhyun saw the look on your face when you realized it was him. He was the person who always came after you, and that was exactly what you were thinking.

“Baek, you don’t always have to come after me.”

“I am not letting you be alone after what just happened. That would make me a terrible friend.”

“Chanyeol is your friend too. You should go to him.”

“He has 7 other people with him who can kick his ass, he doesn’t need me, and that Chanyeol is not my friend. I don’t know who he is.”

He could tell his words saddened you, but he was determined to get your mind off Chanyeol. That was his mission for the night. He put his arm around your shoulders and pulled you with him to the elevator.

For the next few hours, he was able to distract you. He would tell you silly stories and impersonated as many people as he could. He even attempted to call Taehyung from BTS again, but you stopped him.

“Will you leave that poor boy alone?”

“First of all, he is my friend. You’re allowed to call your friends, Y/N. Secondly, that guy will make you laugh until your stomach hurts. Nobody can be sad around him. I just don’t think it’s truly possible.”

“Okay, well, that’s great and all, but you don’t need to call him at 3 in the morning.”

“3 in the morning?! Since when??” His head snapped towards the clock. Holy crap, when did so many hours pass?!

Laughing at his obliviousness, you say, “Since it became 3 in the morning, Baek! I don’t know.”

Baekhyun suddenly recalled a memory that he hadn’t thought of in years. He sat up in his spot with excitement. “Do you remember that night we went bowling? You let go of the ball too early, and it flung backward?” He laughed.

“Shut up, Baek. That was my first time!” You shouted at him.

“I thought Jongdae was gonna choke on his pretzel. Who did it almost hit?? I can’t remember…” He brought his hand up to his nose and tapped it, thinking. “Was it Yixing? No… it was… oh…” His eyes widened when he realized. Shit.

“Chanyeol.”

“I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to bring him up…” He felt guilty. He had tried his absolute hardest to not mention Chanyeol, and then he brought him up anyway.

“It’s not your fault, Baek. He’s in all our stories. He was always there.” You stare at the coffee table. “Why is he being like this? This isn’t like him.” You sounded so sad, and Baekhyun realized that, even with all his hard work to take your mind off Chanyeol, your mind was going to go back to him anyway.

He sighed. “Honestly, I don’t know what’s going on with him. We talked a couple of days ago, and he was pretty confused and lost. It’s really hard to see.”

He got quiet, worrying about what was troubling his best friend. It really saddened Baekhyun to watch his friend crumble apart like this, but then he remembered how Chanyeol was so desperate to talk to Daeun and set things right with her. That reminder washed away Baekhyun’s guilt and instead replaced it with frustration.

Looking over at you, he said, “He’s trying to get her back.” All you did was nod at his words, which annoyed Baekhyun more than he knew it would. “You’re okay with that?” He scoffed.

“What am I supposed to do? I’m so tired of all of this.”

“Then let him go.” Baekhyun wasn’t planning on saying that, but as soon as the words left his mouth, he knew it felt right.

“What?” You asked him, looking at him with confusion.

Completely serious, he said, “You heard me. Move on. Find someone who actually cares about you and is willing to show you.”

You sighed. “Baekhyun…”

He knew you were going to try to come up with a reason as to why you couldn’t move on from Chanyeol, and he didn’t want to hear it. “Don’t. Don’t tell me it’s not that easy. Don’t give me some weak excuse.” He said as he turned towards you.

“It’s not, though…”

“What is it about him? What does he have that’s so special?” He had become increasingly more annoyed than he had meant to, so he tried to tone it down. “Why can’t you fall for someone else?”

You were quiet for a moment, making him squirm. “Someone like you?”

“Yes. Me.”

He slowly scooted towards you. Before you could protest, and before his mind caught up with his actions, he gently placed his hands around the back of your head and slowly pulled you to him. Your lips landing softly on his. He could tell you were shocked, going still for a moment, but then you kissed him back.

Holy crap, you were kissing him back. Baekhyun was internally freaking out because he never thought this day would happen, but then he cleared his mind and focused on his actions. Your lips were so soft, and he wanted so badly to deepen the kiss, but then you pulled away.

When he met your eyes, all you were doing was staring at him. He could see the confusion and sadness in your eyes, and he knew he messed up. He had taken advantage of you during a vulnerable moment, and he had just kissed his best freaking friend. The one that was in love with his other best friend, who, though he was being a complete idiot right now, loved you right back.

“Bae – “. You start to say his name to reassure him or something, but he cut you off.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.” He quickly said as he backed away from you.

“You don’t have to apologize.” You tried to tell him.

As he moved further away on the couch, he said, “Yes, I do. I know you don’t like me like that. I know you love Chanyeol, and I was being inconsiderate.”

You were quiet, and Baekhyun could tell you were contemplating what he said. “I’m sorry, Baek. I really am…” You whisper. “Especially if I led you to think something would happen between us…”

“No, you haven’t. I just, sort of, hoped that one day there could’ve been.” He admitted, finally letting his feelings out to you.

He could tell you felt bad, but he didn’t want your pity. He just wanted everything to go back to the way it was 10 minutes before. You quietly ask, “Are we gonna be okay?”

He felt a small smile grow on his face. Somehow you guys were always on the same wavelength. “I was just gonna ask you that…” He said quietly.

“I would like us to be.”

“Me too.” He pulled you into a tight hug without any hesitation. He felt a mix of needing to touch you and wanting to comfort you.

“Thennnn we are?” You said, with a goofy look on your face.

He laughed. Wanting to relieve some of the tension, he thought he would tease you a little bit. “Good, but just so you know, I’m 100% a better kisser than Chanyeol. You can admit it. It’s okay.”

“You are not really trying to go there right now, are you?” The look on your face said it all.

“I mean, I just want to make sure you realize what you’re letting go. I’m a catch, you know.” He winked at you.

You patted his back and said, “Yes, you are, Baek. Yes, you are.”

Wanting to change the subject, he asked, “So, when are we going bowling again?”

And just like that, your relationship went back to how it usually was. Baekhyun nursing his crush on you, and you being hopelessly in love with Chanyeol. In the end, Baekhyun just wanted the people he cared about to be happy.


	18. Part 9

Chanyeol: Can we talk? Please?

You had been rereading that message for nearly 7 hours now. At first, you were surprised he texted you, and then you were annoyed. You were so beyond over the drama. You just had to decide if that meant you were over Chanyeol also. Never responding to the text, you were surprised when another two pop in an hour later.

Chanyeol: I know I keep fucking up, and that maybe I don’t deserve you in my life but let me explain everything to you.

Chanyeol: If you’re willing to hear me out… Meet me at the park in an hour. I’ll wait for you.

You glance up at the clock after you read the last message. 7:05 P.M. Was this going to be it? Were you finally going to get down to the bottom of this? Or were you going to make up for a couple of days and then have some more bullshit happen? You really didn’t think you could be tugged along anymore.

You sat on the couch and thought about what you would even say to him if you saw him. You also debated for a long time if you would even go. When you next glance up at the clock, it was already 8:15 P.M. Over an hour had passed. Was he there waiting for you like he said he’d be? After arguing with yourself, you decide to go and hear him out. Throwing on a hoodie, you head for the door, wondering to yourself just how long he’d be willing to wait for you.

By the time you got to the park, it was 8:28 P.M. A half an hour later than he said. You took note of the fact that it was slightly chilly and wished you had grabbed something warmer than a hoodie. You almost felt bad for making him wait. Almost.

When you finally find him, he’s sitting on a swing, rocking it slightly. You look at his back for a moment before finally heading over to him. He must’ve heard you approaching because his head snaps toward you before you reach him. He stands up when you get closer to him.

“Y/N, you came…” He says in amazement. “I mean, thanks for coming.”

You nod and sit down on the swing that was next to his. Chanyeol sat back down as well, and you took this opportunity to look at him. He was wearing a black hoodie and pants, with a cap on his head. You noted that his eyes were bloodshot and puffy like he had been crying. You also noticed the tip of his nose was red from the cold.

“I am so sorry for putting you through all of this bullshit… For basically everything that has happened since I went on tour. I wish I could go back in time and change… well, everything.” He looks down at his hands that were nervously twitching in his lap. “Daeun told me everything… I’m so sorry for blaming it all on you. I should’ve realized it was me.”

“Well, it was kind of both of us.” You finally speak.

He smiles sadly. “It wasn’t you, Y/N. It was really all me.”

You stare at him, waiting for him to continue. When he notices you’re not going to say anything, he sighs.

“She knew I had feelings for you, even before that night on the balcony. I guess she’s known for a while, but hearing it out loud is what helped her make a decision.”

“Wait, why would she think that before the night on the balcony?”

“Little things I did, I guess. That night at the bar, when we both kind of ignored her. When we were hanging out in my dorm room, and she walked in. The countless times she caught me attempting to type a text good enough to send to you. I don’t know... Apparently, there were a lot of things.”

That tidbit of information surprises you. You had no clue about the unsent texts, but you also hadn’t realized how all these things combined would look. In hindsight, it would appear that more was going on between the two of you than either of you would ever admit to her.

“But that night on the balcony, you said you loved her more…” Your eyes start to burn as the unwanted memory pops back into your head.

“I lied.”

You nearly give yourself whiplash when you turn towards him before whispering, “You what?”

He finally turns toward you. “I lied to you. I never loved Daeun more than you.”

Your heart was beating triple time in your chest. He said it plain as day, with zero hesitation. “Chanyeol, what are you saying to me?”

“I only told you that because I didn’t want to admit to myself what I really wanted. That I was in love with you still, and not in love with my girlfriend. That I had spent the past few months with the wrong girl, and that I played with both of your hearts.”

Not believing what you were hearing, you almost ask him to repeat himself. Your heart was beating so loud that it was causing a whooshing sound in your ears, and you were almost sure that he could hear it.

You quietly ask, “Why?”

“I knew I couldn’t be with you after what happened while I was on tour. I’m not a good enough guy for you... but you were all I could think about. No matter how much I threw myself into music and shows, you were always at the forefront of my mind...” He pauses like he was getting lost back in those memories before taking a deep breath and continuing.

“When I met Daeun, she quieted those thoughts. I had to move on from you for my own sanity, and I did like Daeun. She was funny and smart, but as soon as I got you back in my life, that all went to hell. You were all I wanted, but I was already with Daeun. I felt so guilty for wanting someone besides my girlfriend, so I tried to make it up to her any way I could.”

“By telling me to stay away from you?” You quietly ask.

He nods. “That and all the other shit. When she broke up with me, I didn’t want to admit that everything was my fault. That I’m such a fuck up, and I can’t make anyone happy.”

As he spoke, a tear slid down his cheek. When you saw that, you felt your heart break into millions of little pieces.

“Chanyeol, you are not a fuck up. Yes, you made some mistakes and some incredibly stupid decisions, but you are not a fuck up.” You turn his face towards you. “Do you hear me, Chanyeol?”

As more tears slide down his face, he whispers, “I am so sorry…”

You pull him into a hug. “It’s okay, Chan. I forgive you... Please quit beating yourself up.”

The two of you stayed wrapped up in each other’s arms. Both of you ignoring the weather as it became colder and neither of you willing to move for a long time.

-2 days later-

Wanting to escape all the drama, you decided to host a dinner and movie night with all of your friends. You wanted and needed everyone to reconnect. There were too many arguments and hurtful words thrown at each other over the past few months, and you just wanted to rebuild the bond you all had.

You planned on cooking a nice dinner, and by cooking, you meant ordering most of it from a restaurant. However, when you told the boys about your idea, Kyungsoo and Minseok immediately invited themselves over to help. Apparently, they really were keeping track of your kitchen fires. You told them countless times you didn’t need any help, but they showed up an hour early anyway. It was like they didn’t believe you.

“You are NOT kicking me out of my own kitchen, Kyungsoo!” You shout at the younger man.

“Fine, but at least sit off to the side or something.” He tries to push you over to the edge of the kitchen. You stare at him in disbelief, and he sighs. “Okay, okay. Will you put the stuff from the restaurant in the oven so it doesn’t get cold?”

Confused, you ask, “Do I turn it on?”

Kyungsoo looks at you exasperatedly. “No, you don’t turn it on! The containers will melt.”

Fighting the urge to whip him with the towel you spotted on the counter, you put the containers in the oven. Secretly, you were super happy they had come over early to help. You had been slightly worried you’d mess something up, but they didn’t need to know that.

“Sooo… Y/N….” You look over at Minseok, who was staring at you intensely. “You and Chanyeol, huh?”

“No… There was no ‘me and Chanyeol’. Not really… well, kind of, but… never mind.”

“Come on! I’m like your older brother! I’ve known you since you were a geeky little teenager. Tell me….”

You stare at him with mock outrage. “Excuse you! I was not a geeky teenager! Besides, there’s nothing really to tell.” You meet his eyes and notice him giving you an amused stare. “Okay. I liked Chanyeol, and he liked me, but we were never together.”

Both of the boys stay silent until Minseok says, “Continue. I know there’s more.”

“Really… we just used to make out and – “

“Stop. Please, stop. My ears are going to start bleeding.” Kyungsoo says from your right.

Rolling your eyes, you say, “I wasn’t going to talk about that! I just… I loved him. Love him.”

The boys stare at you with wide eyes. You watch as Kyungsoo drops the spoon he was using to stir the rice into the bowl.

Minseok slowly turns toward him. “Did you know about this?” Kyungsoo stays silent, shaking his head no. “Since when? For how long? Who all knows?”

Minseok kept bombarding you with questions, so you tell them about all the stuff they had been apparently oblivious to over the years. After you tell them everything, you can see that they are slightly sad they were never told about your feelings. This was confirmed when Kyungsoo’s voice deepened, signaling he wasn’t joking around any longer.

“You could’ve told us, Y/N.”

“I know, but I technically didn’t tell anyone. They all figured it out on their own.”

“Remember when we used to be close? When you actually liked and talked to us? When we meant something to you?” Minseok dramatically says while putting his hand to his chest, feigning hurt.

Kyungsoo sighs and looks up at the ceiling like he was asking for patience to deal with Minseok acting extra.

A while later, after everyone showed up and ate dinner, the alcohol was pulled out, and the movie was turned into background noise. Everything had been going really well. Chanyeol had been sitting next to you, and the two of you had been having a really good time, laughing nonstop.

The more and more everyone drank, the more obnoxious they became, which was completely normal for them, except for one. Baekhyun had been getting quieter and quieter, which was completely out of character for him.

You knew something was wrong, so you quickly get up and go sit next to him. “Hey, why are you so quiet?”

“Just not in a party mood.” He replies quietly, not looking at you.

Wondering if it was because of the kiss, you start to ask him, “Baek – “

He interrupts you. “I see you and Chanyeol have made up. That’s good, Y/N, really good.”

You watch as he takes a giant gulp of his drink. His words and actions were confusing you. “Baek, are you okay?”

Finally getting him to look at you, he turns toward you and smiles. “Yeah, sorry, just in a mood. Go and talk to Chanyeol. He looks lost by himself.”

You glance over at Chanyeol, who was talking to Minseok before turning back and searching Baekhyun’s face. “Chanyeol looks fine to me…”

“Really, Y/N, I’m not in much of a mood to entertain people right now.”

You slowly nod and say okay. Deciding to give Baekhyun his space, you went back over to the other guys, who were talking about girls from their trainee days.

“Do you guys remember Jisoo?” Jongdae asks the group.

Yixing remembered her, which surprised you a little. “Oh yeah, whatever happened to her?”

“I don’t know, but did you know Jongin kissed her?”

You whip your head to the left to look at Jongin, seeing that his eyes were nearly bulging out of his head as he stares at Jongdae in shock. Jia, who was sitting to his left, slowly turns her head toward him, trying to decide if she was going to be mad at him.

“That was like 7 years ago! Why are you bringing her up now?!” Jongin shouts at the older man.

Jongdae smirks at him. “No reason.”

You quietly laugh to yourself and shake your head. Jongdae was such a little shit sometimes.

Jongin attempts to get the attention off him, so Jia wouldn’t be mad at him any longer. “Yeah, well what about Sehun?? He kissed her sister.”

Jongdae chokes on his drink. “He what?! How come I didn’t know about this?!

Sehun, who had been minding his own business, yells at Jongin. “Yah! No one was supposed to know about it!”

“Sorry. If I go down, you’re coming with me.” Jongin says as he shrugs his shoulders.

Sehun, not to be outdone, takes it a step further. “Okay then, I guess I’ll point out that Baekhyun kissed that trainee that idolized Taeyeon.” Now it was your turn to choke on your drink.

“Minah? When did you do that?!” Junmyeon asks, surprised.

Baekhyun completely ignores everyone and acts like he never heard a thing.

“He just doesn’t want to own up to it.” Sehun laughs as he looks over at Baekhyun to see if he can get a rise out of him.

Baekhyun turns his head to stare at the youngest member before nodding. “Yeah, I kissed her. Just like I kissed Y/N.”

The room goes completely silent, and it takes a moment for you to process what you had just heard. You could physically feel Chanyeol go shock still next to you, but that wasn’t something you could focus on at the moment.

Everyone starts looking between you and Baekhyun, but you can only stare at him. Your heart was beating extremely fast, and you thought you were going to cry. Everything was finally going well! What the fuck was he thinking?

You see the moment when Baekhyun realizes he messed up. He looks up at Chanyeol, his face changing to one of horror. “Wait. That’s not what I meant!”

You look over to your right to see Chanyeol standing up from the couch while glaring at Baekhyun.

“Chanyeol, let me explain. It was an accident.” He stands up from his seat. “It was me, not her.”

Before anyone could move, Chanyeol had gotten across the room and punched Baekhyun in the face. Everyone quickly sprang into action after that, a couple of the boys grabbing each man to stop them from escalating the fight.

You go over to Chanyeol and grab his hand to get his attention. “Chanyeol – “.

He rips his hand from yours, not even looking your way. You felt helpless as he pulled out of the arms of the other boys and walked out of your door.

“Chanyeol, wait!” You stare at the door, not believing this was happening.

When you turn back around, you notice everyone looking at you and Baekhyun for an explanation.

“What did you do?” Junmyeon breaks the silence.

Baekhyun immediately answers him. Not letting you take the blame in any way, shape, or form. “It was me. I kissed her the other day.”

“Why?” Minseok asks quietly.

Baekhyun sighs, prodding at the new cut on his lip. “Chanyeol was right. I like her, but she doesn’t like me back. I thought if I kissed her, maybe she could move on from him, but I was wrong. This is completely on me, not her.”

“Well, why the hell did you bring it up?” Sehun angrily asks, pissed off that they were falling right back into the same bullshit routine.

Baekhyun was quiet for a moment. “I guess I was just bitter... I’m upset that she doesn’t feel the same way, but I didn’t mean to blurt it out. I really have no idea what I was thinking…”

Junmyeon sighs. “Well, you’re gonna have fun explaining that to Chanyeol.” He sits back down on the couch and drops his head into his hands. “This is a mess.”

“I’m sorry, hyung. I’m sorry to everyone…” Baekhyun turns to look at you with tears in his eyes. You grab his hand and begin to take him towards the bathroom.

“Let’s go get you cleaned up.”

“I’m really sorry…”

“I know, Baek.”


	19. Part 9 (Chanyeol's POV)

Chanyeol had been anxiously waiting for you to reply for hours. He had texted you earlier in the day, asking if the two of you could meet up and talk, and you had yet to respond. You read it hours ago, Chanyeol knew, because he had been consistently checking the message to see if you had opened it or not. When he was sure you weren’t going to respond, he sent another two.

Chanyeol: I know I keep fucking up, and that maybe I don’t deserve you in my life but let me explain everything to you.

Chanyeol: If you’re willing to hear me out… Meet me at the park in an hour. I’ll wait for you.

It was just slightly after seven now, so he had less than an hour to get ready and go to the park. Chanyeol was so busy mentally preparing what he was going to say to you that he forgot to grab a jacket. The thought never occurring to him until he got outside, and the wind hit him smack in the face. It was kind of cold, but he didn’t have time to go back inside, so he headed over to the park.

It was 7:55 when he arrived at the empty park. Chanyeol went straight for the swings, knowing that if you came, you would know exactly where he was. He couldn’t even count how many times the two of you had played at this park while he was training. It was a special place for the both of you, which is why he thought it was the perfect place to mend your broken friendship.

Chanyeol kept glancing at his watch, knowing the minutes were ticking away. He was hopeful that you would show up, but he didn’t truly know anymore, which saddened him more than he could say. He used to know what you were going to do before even you did. Now, he had no idea.

It was nearing 8:30, and Chanyeol was starting to freeze. His hoodie was definitely not warm enough to wear outside tonight, but he wasn’t willing to leave yet. Just when he was about to lose hope of you showing up, he heard movement behind him. He whipped his head around and saw you slowly walking towards him. Chanyeol stood up from the swing so fast, he almost lost his balance.

You came. You actually came to hear him out. He was so relieved that you showed up, he didn’t realize that he had spoken out loud. “I mean, thanks for coming.”

You nodded and silently walked over to sit on the swing next to his. He was quiet for a moment, completely anxious and not knowing where to start. He figured a good place to start would be with an apology, so he dove straight in.

“I am so sorry for putting you through all of this bullshit… For basically everything that happened since I went on tour. I wish I could go back in time and change… well, everything.” He looked down at his hands that were nervously twitching in his lap. “Daeun told me everything… I’m so sorry for blaming it all on you. I should’ve realized it was me.”

“Well, it was kind of both of us.” You finally spoke, not making eye contact with him.

He smiled sadly at you. Of course, you would try to take some of the burden off him, but there was no way he was going to allow you to take any responsibility for his mistakes. “It wasn’t you, Y/N. It was really all me.”

That got your attention. You finally turned your head towards him, searching his eyes for an explanation. When he noticed you weren’t going to say anything, he sighed and looked ahead towards the slide.

“She knew I had feelings for you, even before that night on the balcony. I guess she’s known for a while, but hearing it out loud is what helped her make a decision.”

“Wait, why would she think that before the night on the balcony?” You asked him with confusion on your face.

“Little things I did, I guess. That night at the bar, when we both kind of ignored her. When we were hanging out in my dorm, and she walked in. The countless times she caught me attempting to type a text good enough to send to you. I don’t know, apparently there were a lot of things.”

Saying it out loud filled him with remorse. He didn't handle things very well and he could see that clearly now. When he glanced back at you, he could see the surprise on your face.

“But that night on the balcony, you said you loved her more…”

As you said that, your eyes started to water. He wished that night could be erased from both of your memories. Saying those words to you was something he had regretted instantly, and he had wanted to pull you back to him and tell you the truth right then and there. Tonight, he was finally going to do just that.

“I lied.”

You turned your head toward him so quickly, he thought you were going to hurt yourself. “You what?” You whispered.

He turned back toward you. “I lied to you. I never loved Daeun more than you.”

“Chanyeol, what are you saying to me?”

“I only told you that because I didn’t want to admit to myself what I really wanted. That I was in love with you still, and not my girlfriend. That I had spent the past few months with the wrong girl, and that I played with both of your hearts.” He couldn’t believe how good it felt to finally tell you his feelings and to finally speak the truth into existence.

“Why?” You quietly asked him.

“I knew I couldn’t be with you after what happened while I was on tour. I’m not a good enough guy for you, but you were all I could think about. No matter how much I threw myself into music and shows, you were always at the forefront of my mind.” He paused, thinking back to what it was like in those moments before pulling himself back into the present.

“When I met Daeun, she quieted those thoughts. I had to move on from you for my sanity, and I did like Daeun. She was funny and smart, but as soon as I got you back in my life that all went to hell. You were all I wanted, but I was with Daeun. I felt so guilty for wanting someone besides my girlfriend, so I tried to make it up to her any way I could.”

He could feel his throat getting tighter the more he talked, but now that he was finally telling you everything, he didn’t want to stop. He didn’t think he could stop.

“By telling me to stay away from you?”

He nodded, knowing how stupid it all sounded. “That and all the other shit. When she broke up with me, I didn’t want to admit that everything was my fault. That I am such a fuck up, and I can’t make anyone happy.”

Chanyeol felt a tear slide down his cheek. He had tried so hard not to cry in front of you over this. He didn’t want you to feel pity or at fault for his actions, but he just couldn’t stop himself anymore. You were the one who use to help him with all his problems, and this was the one thing he couldn’t turn to you for. It wrecked him.

“Chanyeol, you are not a fuck up. Yes, you made some mistakes and some incredibly stupid decisions, but you are not a fuck up.” You reached for his face and turned it towards you. “Do you hear me, Chanyeol?”

More tears slid down his face as he whispered, “I am so sorry…”

He felt your arms wrap around him, pulling him into a hug. It was the first time in a long time, he thought that things might be okay. “It’s okay, Chan. I forgive you. Please quit beating yourself up.”

\- 2 days Later -

Chanyeol had been excited for your movie night. He had a feeling it was going to be a good night with the people he cared about. He couldn’t remember the last time when your group had gotten together, and there wasn’t any drama. It was the first taste of normalcy he had in a while, and he was going to enjoy it.

He had been laughing with you nearly the entire night, not wanting to leave your side, but being cautious of suffocating you. He was joking around with his members, and he was feeling light and happy. He felt almost drunk on all of the happiness in the room.

“Do you guys remember Jisoo from when we were training?” Jongdae asked the group. Chanyeol rolled his eyes. Why on Earth was Jongdae bringing this up?

“Oh yeah, whatever happened to her?” Yixing asked.

“I don’t know, but did you know Jongin kissed her?”

Chanyeol looked over at the younger boy and laughed out loud. Jongin looked panicked, and Jia was glaring at him from the seat on his left.

“That was like 7 years ago! Why’re you bringing her up now?!” Jongin shouted at the older man.

Jongdae smirked at him. “No reason.”

Jongin tried to get the attention put on someone else, which was a common escape tactic he used. “Yeah, well what about Sehun?? He kissed her sister.”

Jongdae choked on his drink. “He what?! How come I didn’t know about this?!

Sehun, who had been minding his own business, yelled at Jongin. “Yah! No one was supposed to know about it!”

Jongin shrugged his shoulders. “Sorry. If I go down, you’re coming with me.”

Chanyeol loved listening to the banter between his members, especially when he wasn’t being dragged into it. There was always someone teasing someone else, but it was always good-natured. None of the members would ever purposely hurt another.

“Okay then, I guess I’ll point out that Baekhyun kissed that trainee that idolized Taeyeon,” Sehun said. Chanyeol thought back to the girl in question and grinned, remembering the day it happened.

“Minah? When did you do that?!” Junmyeon asked, surprised.

Baekhyun completely ignored everyone, so Sehun decided to egg him on. “He just doesn’t want to own up to it.” Sehun laughed.

Baekhyun turned his head to stare at the youngest member. “Yeah, I kissed her. Just like I kissed Y/N.”

Chanyeol went still. He didn’t just hear what he thought he did, did he? His best friend did not just say he kissed the girl that Chanyeol has loved for years... He had to have been imaging it, right? But then he noticed the way everyone else had gone dead silent, and he knew he hadn’t been hearing things.

When? When did this happen? Chanyeol had a feeling he knew, though. It had to have been the night he saw the two of you leave the dorm together after the celebration. Or maybe it was the night when the two of you left game night together… Or maybe it was when you left your birthday party together…

Chanyeol hadn’t realized how many instances there could have been. How long had the two of you been hiding this? Was this a recent thing? Or had it been in the past?

He stared at his best friend, who was sat across from him. He could see the indifference on Baekhyun’s face like he didn’t care what he had just blurted out, and that pissed Chanyeol off to no end. It only took a couple of seconds after that, that Baekhyun realized what he had said. He looked at Chanyeol with a horrified expression on his face.

“Wait. That’s not what I meant!” Chanyeol was on his feet before he realized it, and he knew there would be no stopping him this time.

“Chanyeol, let me explain. It was an accident.” He watched Baekhyun stand up from his seat, getting ready to defend himself if necessary. “It was me, not her.”

Chanyeol didn’t care what he had to say anymore. He should’ve punched him in the face the first time he thought about it, so he definitely didn’t feel bad for going through with it this time. At first.

It took only seconds for Chanyeol to realize he had made yet another mistake. He instantly regretted punching Baekhyun, but it was too late. He could feel two of his members holding his arms, and he was flashing back to the first time this happened.

The only difference this time was Baekhyun’s face. Back then, he looked shocked and disappointed, but this time, he had no expression on his face at all. Chanyeol could see that Baekhyun’s lip was split and bleeding, and he felt horrible. He felt like he couldn’t breathe, and he just wanted to get out of there as fast as possible.

He had zoned out, completely ignoring any male voice he heard, so when you spoke, it immediately got his attention. He had heard you say his name, and he felt you grab his hand. It suddenly was too much for him to handle.

Chanyeol ripped his hand out of yours and tried to pull himself out of his member's arms, eventually succeeding. He was out the door in no time, and it finally felt like he could breathe. He just needed some space and some quiet so he could think.

The more time he had to think about it, the more he realized he wasn’t mad at either of you. He understood why it happened, and honestly, Chanyeol had no claim over you. You were never really his, so this wasn’t something he could get mad at. It didn’t matter when it happened, and really it was none of his business. Yes, he felt betrayed, but what he has put you and Baekhyun through this past year didn’t even remotely compare.

It was three in the morning when Chanyeol found himself knocking on Baekhyun’s apartment door, hoping that he had come home and had not gone to the dorms. It was only a minute before Baekhyun had answered the door and looked up at the taller man.

Chanyeol took in his best friend’s appearance, and it was clear that Baekhyun had been sleeping from his messy bedhead. The cut on his lips was tinier than Chanyeol remembered, and it looked like it’d heal up fast, thankfully.

“Sorry to wake you up, Baekhyun. I just had to talk to you, and I don’t think I could’ve waited…”

Baekhyun stares at Chanyeol, deciding if he was going to listen to him. He then slowly moves over, allowing him inside. Chanyeol walks over to Baekhyun’s couch and sits down like he’s done hundreds of times before, and Baekhyun wasn’t trailing far behind.

“I don’t think there is really a way to apologize to someone for punching them in the face, and I know sorry doesn’t cut it, but I am deeply sorry. I had no right to get angry over it, and it was an immature and childish thing to do.”

“Chanyeol – “. Baekhyun attempts to say.

“No, Baekhyun, let me finish, please. I know it’s gonna take a while for you to forgive me, and you may never, but I am truly sorry with every fiber of my being. If there is anything I can do, just say it, and it’s done.” Baekhyun was watching Chanyeol with a somber expression on his face, mulling over his words before speaking.

“I really can’t believe you punched me in the face, you fucker.” Baekhyun snaps, causing Chanyeol to immediately look down at the carpet. “Yah, Park Chanyeol, look at me.” He snaps his eyes back toward the older man. “You’re right. I won’t forgive you yet. It’s going to take some time, but I still love you and care about you... I'm worried about you…”

Chanyeol just nods at Baekhyun’s words, not knowing what to say.

“I think you should take some time for yourself, Chanyeol. A few days, a few weeks, whatever you need, but you need time away from this situation and Y/N. None of this is healthy, and you’re making everyone around you miserable. I’m sorry to say it, but it’s true.”

“I know…”

“You do?” Baekhyun asks surprised.

Chanyeol nods. “I booked a room out of town for a couple of days.. I already asked for permission, and the company okayed it. I’m leaving as soon as we’re finished here.”

He could see the emotions fleeting across Baekhyun’s face. Surprise. Relief. Sadness. Pride. Chanyeol knew this was the right thing to do.

“Well, good, I’m really happy that you decided to do this. I miss my brother, and I want him back.”

Chanyeol stands up from the couch. “I miss him too, Baek. I’m going to get going, but I’d really like to talk again when I get back.”

Baekhyun stands up with him and pulls the taller man into a hug. “Of course. I’ll be waiting.”

Chanyeol turns to leave when Baekhyun stops him. “Hey… You didn’t ask, but I know you want to know… It was after the celebration at the dorm…”

Chanyeol knew exactly what he was referring to, and in truth, he HAD been dying to know, but he refused to ask about it.

“You should also know that it was me and not her. She doesn’t like me in a romantic way, so go fix yourself and try to get the girl.”


	20. Part 10

The day after movie night, Baekhyun had come over to your place to apologize for what felt like the hundredth time. You had told him repeatedly that you weren’t mad at him, but that didn’t stop him. Yes, he had made a mistake, but all of you had, so it didn’t matter to you. However, sometimes talking to Baekhyun was like talking to a brick wall.

“I’ve told you I’m sorry, right?”

You look up at the ceiling and take a deep breath, completely annoyed with the man now. “Baek, I swear to god.”

“Okay, okay, I just want to make sure you know...” He grumbles from beside you. You feel him take a breath like he was working himself up to say something. “Have you heard from him?”

“Nope.”

You were starting to feel like a cosmic force was working against the two of you, like the universe was sending you flashing neon signs saying, “Hello, not him!”.

“I have…” Baekhyun hesitantly says.

You look over at the man who was now holding your full attention. “You’ve talked to him?”

He nods while taking in your reaction. “He showed up at my apartment last night.”

“Last night? After the fight?” You ask, raising your eyebrows in surprise.

“Yeah… He came to apologize… and to tell me that he was leaving for a few days…” He tells you while looking down at the drink in his hand. You couldn’t tell if Baekhyun was happy, sad, or what he was feeling about that piece of information.

“L-Leaving? Where?” You ask quietly, an array of emotions flowing through you. You couldn’t help but wonder where Chanyeol was going.

“I didn’t ask. All I know is that he booked a room somewhere for a few days to clear his head.” He looks up at you and takes in your sad face. “He needs this Y/N. He needs to figure everything out for himself.” You nod, understanding that it was what’s best for him. For both of you really. “He’ll come back when he’s ready.”

Mulling over Baekhyun’s words, you realize you actually felt relieved. Both of you would get a chance to sit down and clear your heads, away from each other. Hopefully, this break apart would give you both what you needed.

\- A week later –

It had been a full week since you had last seen or heard from Chanyeol and even most of the boys. After Baekhyun left your apartment that night, you had decided that it would be nice if you took a week off from communicating with the entire group, giving everyone some space and a chance to breathe.

It was nice. Things were quiet for once, and you got a lot of much needed housework done. You picked up some extra hours at work, and it was relieving to have something else to focus on. The hardest decision you’ve had to make for the past week was what to have for dinner.

Facing that dilemma now, you stare absentmindedly into the refrigerator, hoping something would catch your eye. Maybe you should just order takeout? You weren’t in much of a mood to cook anyway.

While you are heading over to the couch to grab your phone, there’s a knock on your door. You sigh, and walk over to the door, wondering who would be on the other side of it. To your absolute shock, it was Chanyeol standing there. You hadn’t expected to hear from him just yet.

He smiles at you shyly when you open the door, bringing his hand up to rub the back of his neck. “Hey…”

“Chanyeol! Um, hi, come in!” You move aside and cringe at how awkward you just sounded.

“I hope you haven’t eaten yet… I brought dinner.” He says while holding up a bag of takeout from the place you were literally about to order from. You can’t help but laugh at the irony of this situation.

“You have creepily good timing… thank you! That was really nice of you.”

He laughs as he follows you into the kitchen. While he was setting the bags on the counter, you see a thought cross his mind, and then you watch as the smile on his face falls.

“I’m sorry for messing up your movie night…” Then, bringing back a smile to his face, he says, “So, to make it up to you, I brought you food. Your favorite.”

“You didn’t have to make it up to me, but I appreciate the food.” You say with a smile on your face. “But I am sorry too…”

He immediately shakes his head the second you attempt to apologize. “You don’t have to apologize, Y/N. You didn’t do anything wrong, and it wasn’t really any of my business, to be fair.”

You stay quiet, knowing that he is right and because you didn’t really want to talk about it anymore.

“So, when did you get back?” You ask, changing the topic.

“I just got back a couple of hours ago. You were my second stop … Well, third, but only because I had to go to SM really quick. Then, I saw Baek and now you.” He smiles while pulling containers out of the takeout bags.

“You went and seen Baekhyun?”

He nods without looking up. “I asked him before I left if we could talk when I got back, so we did.”

When he doesn’t elaborate any further, your curiosity gets the better of you. “Diiiiid it go well?...”

You watch as a smile grows on his face. “I think it went very well.”

You smile back, enough relief flowing through you that you feel like you can start to tease him again. “Well, good. I’m glad. I was hoping you two would go back to being annoying together. So, how was your trip?”

“Enlightening. It was good to step away from everything. It helped me realize a lot of things.” The genuine smile on his face sent a tingly feeling throughout your body. He looked happy and in a better place than he did before. You couldn’t have been more relieved. All you wanted was for Chanyeol to go back to being the happy, bubbly, sometimes obnoxious, giant that you loved.

“What kind of things?” You couldn’t help but ask.

“Well, it made me realize how much I missed our old friendship. I’ve been such a jerk to you for no reason, and I’m really sorry.” He suddenly laughs. “I’ve apologized more to you this last year than I have to anyone else in my entire life.”

You give him a small smile, wanting to forget all of it. All the heartbreak and drama was wearing on you, and you wanted nothing more than to move on. “Chan, let’s just forget about it, all of it, please? Let’s just start over right now…”

He was quiet for a moment as he thought over your words. “I would actually really like that…”

You spend the next few hours reminiscing about when you were younger and snacking on the food Chanyeol brought. It was a nice change of pace for the two of you. It was easy going and light, with zero pressure.

“Remember when we all went to the amusement park in costumes?” He laughs.

“I still don’t know why you guys thought it would be a good idea to mix costumes with rides.” You groan at the memory.

“Hey, it was working out fine until Minseok’s tail got caught!”

You bust out laughing at the memory. “Oh my god, I can still picture his face. I never knew he could scream so loudly!”

“’Oh god, it’s got me! Someone call Junmyeon! He’s the oldest now!’” Chanyeol imitates Minseok causing you to almost choke on your food. “He was literally stuck in the entrance gate. You would’ve thought he was about to lose a limb.” He doubles over laughing.

You sit up at the thought of another fond memory. “Do you remember when we left Kyungsoo at the movies?”

Never missing a beat with you, Chanyeol knew exactly what you were talking about. “Left? You mean forgot? He gave me a bruise when we went back for him! It lasted for like two weeks.”

You laugh at the memory of Kyungsoo hitting Chanyeol. “He ignored me for a solid three days. How did we forget him?”

“Well, I remember we were talking about wanting to go for a walk on the beach together, and we got really excited and left him.”

Your eyes widen in realization. “Oh my god, that was the first time we kissed.”

“Mhmm… I was so nervous… and then you nearly knocked me out when you bumped your head into mine. It was so romantic.” He teases you.

“Hey! There was a bee!” You shout in your defense.

He smirks at your weak excuse. “I didn’t see a bee.”

“It buzzed right past my ear!” You still couldn’t stop from shuddering at the thought of it getting caught in your hair.

“You don’t have to be shy! You can admit you were nervous.” He says.

You look away from him, suddenly getting very interested in the chip in your hand. “Well, of course, I was. You’re you…” You were quiet for a minute, contemplating if you were going to ask the question that had been on the tip of your tongue for an hour now. Deciding you had nothing to lose, you ask.

“Where do we go from here?”

He’s quiet as he considers your question. You were nervous to hear what he was about to say. “I think, right now, I want to continue rebuilding our friendship. I feel like that’s the most important thing. I want us to be able to figure out our feelings over time… Is that okay?”

You were relieved at his words, completely agreeing with him. Your friendship had taken a hard hit, and it was the first thing the two of you should focus on. You wanted the person you were with to be your best friend as well.

“Absolutely. I think that’s a wise decision.”

“Junmyeon would be so proud.” He smiles at you, making you both laugh.

Now it was Chanyeol’s turn to go quiet, and you were curious as to what was running through his mind. “We’re gonna be okay, right?”

“Always.” You smile at him.

No matter what, you knew Chanyeol would always be in your life. As a friend, a brother, a lover, an annoying asshole. Whatever it was, he was a fixture that wasn’t going away.

He gives you a giant smile back and then reaches down to look at his phone. You watch his eyes nearly bulge out of his head. “Did you know it’s after 2 am?!”

“Seriously?? Wow…” You were shocked that it was already that late. He had shown up at your door nearly 8 hours ago.

He looks down at his hands while fighting off a giant yawn. “I should get going and let you get some sleep…”

You were definitely tired, not realizing it until you heard what time it was, but you were worried about Chanyeol heading back home at this time of night… Knowing people were leaving bars drunk, and who else knew who was out there. Before you gave it any more thought, you blurt out, “Stay here.”

He freezes midway off the couch and looks back at you. “What?”

What?! Your brain yells at you, finally catching up to your mouth. “Um yeah, you should stay here. It’s not safe outside this late…”

You could see him debating over whether it would be a good idea or not. A part of you was torn, also. Chanyeol staying over was something that had happened hundreds of times, but that was before everything that happened this past year, like him admitting his love to you. There was a shift in the relationship, and you weren’t sure what all it had affected yet. You knew Chanyeol was thinking the same thing.

“Well, if it’s okay with you, that’d be great….” He hesitantly says.

You nod, getting up to prepare the couch for Chanyeol to sleep on. Before, he would’ve slept in your bed with you, but not now. You both had to relearn and explore this relationship before you got to that point again. At least that’s what you told yourself before the two of you fell asleep on the couch together.


	21. Par 10 (Chanyeol's POV)

The week Chanyeol had stayed away from everyone was everything he needed. Originally, he had planned to be gone for only a couple of days, but when it was time to go back home, Chanyeol knew he wasn’t ready yet, so he booked his room for a few more days. He went off to a smaller city that he hardly remembered existed and locked himself in his nice, little hotel room. The only interaction with other people he had was when room service came to bring him his food. He shut off his phone, and he became his only companion.

He reevaluated everything; his thoughts, feelings, and emotions. He brought along his guitar and a notebook to write lyrics and to journal everything he wanted to say but didn’t know how. By the time he left, he had filled the entire notebook, to the point that there was no blank space, even in the margins and on the covers. He came up with a couple of songs, from start to finish, and he was really excited about them.

Leaving the hotel room, he felt like a different person than when he went in. He felt more like his old self, and he couldn’t wait to get home and see the other members. He missed them so much. The constant teasing between him and Sehun, the close moments he and Kyungsoo privately had, goofing around and laughing with Baekhyun. He missed them all for different reasons.

He missed you also, but he missed the friendship that the two of you use to have more. He definitely did not miss the relationship the two of you had now. When he went away, one of the things he had to figure out was what was going to happen between you and him. What did he want to happen, and what did he think was best for himself?

During his time away, he figured out that he just wanted to be friends with you, and he hoped you would be okay with that. He wanted to rebuild the foundation of the friendship you had and to work on all your issues over time. It wasn’t something that needed to be dealt with right away or even any time soon. Your friendship with him was the most important thing right now, nothing else.

Did he still like you? Well, obviously. Those types of feelings don’t just go away instantly. Maybe in the future, the two of you could have something, but not right now. Chanyeol wasn’t ready, and he didn’t think you were either.

It was amazing how spending time alone could remind you of so many things and help you reconnect with yourself. He felt refreshed and excited to go home, and that was when he knew it was time to go back. His first stop was to SM, to let them know he had safely made it back, and to catch up on anything he had missed. He didn’t feel as stressed out as he used to when he walked into the building, and he took that as a very good sign.

His next stop was to Baekhyun’s place. He called ahead to ask the man if it was a good time to drop by, and Baekhyun gave him the green light. Chanyeol headed on over, and that was where he was now. Standing outside of Baek’s apartment door, about to knock. He hadn’t planned out what he was going to say, but he knew it wouldn’t matter. He wasn’t nervous to talk to Baekhyun. He was just super excited to see his friend, and hopefully, the feeling was mutual.

When Baekhyun opens the door, a giant smile grows on his face, which Chanyeol returns. “Chanyeol, you’re back!”

He nods as he pulls the shorter man into a tight hug. “I missed you, Baekhyun. Damn, it’s good to see you.”

Baekhyun pulls back and laughs. “Chanyeol, you were gone for a week, not a year.”

He feels his cheeks burn in embarrassment. “I know man, but it was a long, eye-opening week… And I’m glad to be home now.”

“Come in, come in.” Baekhyun was saying, as he was pulling him into the apartment, so he could shut the door. “So, how are you?”

Chanyeol knew his friend was giving him a once over, almost as if he could physically see if Chanyeol was okay or not. “I feel good, Baek. Better than I have in a long time. I don’t think I’ve felt this good since we went on tour.”

Baekhyun pauses his appraisal and looks at him suspiciously. “Where the heck did you go off to? Some weird drug retreat?”

Chanyeol gives Baekhyun a weird look. “I went to a hotel, Baekhyun. What the hell?”

He watches as Baekhyun shrugs his shoulders. “Well, I don’t know where you went, but you came back feeling awfully good… Did it really work, or are you putting on a front?”

Chanyeol sighs. “I’m not trying to fake you out. I feel good and happy, so I’m pretty sure it worked.”

Baekhyun slowly smiles. “Well, good, I’m glad. Sit down, man, let’s talk.” He outstretches his arm towards the couch, indicating for Chanyeol to head over there.

Once they both sit down, Chanyeol takes the opportunity to apologize to Baekhyun again. “I’m sorry for being a crappy friend to you, Baek. I’ve treated you badly over the past few months, and I’m absolutely disgusted with myself for ever putting my hands on you. I’m also sorry for never really taking your feelings into account when it came to Y/N.”

Baekhyun looks at Chanyeol with surprise on his face. Chanyeol guessed Baekhyun was surprised he jumped straight to the point. The two stared at each other, Baekhyun beginning to slowly nod his head. “I know that you’re sorry, and I do forgive you, but you’re going to have to prove to me that you truly are better. Words only mean so much.”

Chanyeol nods his head, agreeing. “Of course, and I’ll show you how sorry I am. Prepare to get sick of me because I’m going to be with you whenever I can.” He winks at Baekhyun, causing a groan to fall out of the other man’s lips. Baekhyun knew Chanyeol was joking, but it was the thought that counts.

Baekhyun looks back at Chanyeol, debating on how to ask the next question. “What about Y/N?”

Chanyeol clears his throat and looks down at his intertwined hands. “I’m not going to date her. At least, not any time soon. I want to focus on fixing our friendship. I realized how much I missed just having her around and laughing with her. I think that’s what’s best for not only me but her also.”

When he looks back at Baekhyun, he notices his mouth was slightly open, like he was shocked or something. When he realizes Chanyeol is staring at him, he closes his mouth and clears his throat. “That’s really mature of you, Chanyeol. I think that you’re right that you should focus on the friendship.”

Hearing that from Baekhyun let Chanyeol know he was on the right path. He knew it himself, but hearing the words come from someone else reassured him.

Chanyeol wanted to switch the topic and find out if anything interesting had been going on while he was away. “So, did I miss anything?”

He watches as the smile grows on Baekhyun’s face. “You’ll never guess what Jongdae did…”

Just like that, Chanyeol knew him and Baekhyun would be okay in no time. They were brothers, they fought all the time, but Chanyeol wanted Baekhyun to know how serious he was about making it up to him, and he knew he would over time.

After he spent a couple of hours with Baekhyun, he knew his next destination would be you. It was almost dinner time, and Chanyeol really hoped you would be at home. Not wanting to show up empty-handed, he stopped at your favorite takeout restaurant and ordered everything that you would normally order. Food was always one of your weaknesses.

Planning to go to your apartment and actually knocking on the door when he got there were two very different things. Chanyeol had been excited to come and see you, but now that he was here, his nerves were dancing in his body. How would you react to seeing him? Were you upset with him for ruining your gathering?

Before he could talk himself out of anything, he gathered up the courage and knocked on your door. He anxiously waited for you to open the door and when you finally did, all the breath Chanyeol had been holding in escaped from his body. You looked surprised to see him standing outside of your door.

“Hey…” He says while rubbing the back of his neck.

“Chanyeol! Um, hi, come in!” You move to the side and allow him to walk into your apartment.

He ignores the awkwardness in the air and holds up the bags of takeout he had in his hand. “I hope you haven’t eaten yet… I brought dinner.”

You glance down at the bag of food he held, a small smirk growing on your face. “You have creepily good timing… thank you! That’s really nice of you.”

Setting the bags on the counter, he could feel the smile slipping. He didn’t want to bring up the elephant in the room, but he knew it had to be done. “I’m sorry for messing up your movie night…” Then, forcing a smile back on his face, he says, “So, to make it up to you, I brought you food. Your favorite.”

“You didn’t have to make it up to me, but I appreciate the food.” You say with a smile on your face. “I’m sorry too…”

He stops you before you can say anything else. He didn’t want to hear you apologize because you had nothing to apologize for. “You don’t have to apologize, Y/N. You didn’t do anything wrong, and it wasn’t really any of my business, to be fair.”

“So, when did you get back?” You ask, changing the topic. Chanyeol could tell that you didn’t want to talk about it anymore, and he was relieved because neither did he.

“I just got back a couple of hours ago. You were my second stop … Well, third, but only because I had to go to SM really quick. Then, I saw Baek and now you.” He smiles while pulling containers out of the takeout bags.

“You went and seen Baekhyun?” He could hear the surprise in your voice.

Nodding, he says, “I asked him before I left if we could talk when I got back, so we did.”

He looks up at your face, seeing curiosity written all over it. You were always curious, sometimes too much for your own good. It was endearing. “Diiiiid it go well?...”

“I think it went very well.” He replies, feeling a smile grow on his face. He was happy to make up with Baekhyun.

You smile back at him, and it was such a nice sight to see. “Well, good. I’m glad. I was hoping you two would go back to being annoying together.” You tease him. “So, how was your trip?”

He didn’t really know to explain the difference the trip made for him, so he tried his best. “Enlightening. It was good to step away from everything. It helped me realize a lot of things.”

“What kind of things?” You ask.

“Well, it made me realize how much I missed our old friendship. I’ve been such a jerk to you for no reason, and I’m really sorry.” He suddenly laughs, realizing he was so sick of saying sorry to you. “I’ve apologized more to you this last year than I have to anyone else in my entire life.”

You smile at him, amused by his words. “Chan, let’s just forget about it, all of it, please? Let’s just start over right now…”

He was relieved at your words. He wanted nothing more than to forget all of it and move on. “I would actually really like that…”

Chanyeol spent the next few hours trying to make you laugh by retelling old stories from, what he liked to refer to it as the Glory Days, and boy, did you guys have a lot of stories. A lot of those stories involved other members doing stupid things or the two of you doing dumb things to them.

Recalling one particular story about Minseok that had always been his favorite, Chanyeol brought it up. “Remember when we all went to the amusement park in costumes?” He laughs.

“I still don’t know why you guys thought it would be a good idea to mix costumes with rides.” You groan at the memory.

“Hey, it was working out fine until Minseok’s tail got caught!”

You bust out laughing at the memory. “Oh my god, I can still picture his face. I never knew he could scream so loudly!”

“’Oh god, it’s got me! Someone call Junmyeon! He’s the oldest now!’” Chanyeol imitates Minseok. “He was literally stuck in the entrance gate. You would’ve thought he was about to lose a limb.” He doubles over laughing at the oldest member. Chanyeol had never seen Minseok act so dramatic before.

You suddenly sit up with an excited look on your face. “Do you remember when we left Kyungsoo at the movies?” Chanyeol knew exactly what you were talking about. That was an unforgettable night for him, in more ways than one.

“Left? You mean forgot? He gave me a bruise when we went back for him! It lasted for like two weeks.”

You laugh. “He ignored me for a solid three days. How did we forget him?”

“Well, I remember we were talking about wanting to go for a walk on the beach together, and we got really excited and left him.” He looks over at you, willing you to remember what happened that night.

Your eyes finally widen in realization. “Oh my god, that was the first time we kissed.”

“Mhmm… I was so nervous… and then you nearly knocked me out when you bumped your head into mine. It was so romantic.” He had to throw in a bit of teasing to ease some of the tension that started to fill the air.

“Hey! There was a bee!” You shout in your defense.

He smirks at you. He never once heard or saw a bee. “I didn’t see a bee.”

“It buzzed right past my ear!” You shudder at the thought.

“You don’t have to be shy! You can admit you were nervous.” He says, wanting to tease you a little more. When you got quiet, Chanyeol worried he had crossed a line.

You suddenly got very interested in the chip you held in your hand. “Well, of course, I was. You’re you… Where do we go from here?”

He was quiet as he considered what to say. He didn’t want you to be upset with him in any way, but he knew that the two of you had to figure out where you stood. “I think, right now, I want to continue rebuilding our friendship. I feel like that’s the most important thing. I want us to be able to figure out our feelings over time… Is that okay?” He nervously asks.

“Absolutely. I think that’s a wise decision.” He feels a rush of relief at your response.

“Junmyeon would be so proud.” He smiles at you, making you both laugh.

Chanyeol also had a question that was waiting in the back of his mind. Something he had asked you way back when. “We’re gonna be okay, right?”

“Always.” You smile at him, giving him the same response as before.

Happy with your answer, he reaches down to look at his phone. His eyes grow wide as he takes in the time. “Did you know it’s after 2 am?!”

You had a shocked look on your face. “Seriously?? Wow…”

He looks down at his hands, knowing he should leave, but he didn’t want to for multiple reasons. First, he wasn’t quite ready for the night to end, but he also wanted to give you space to process what he had told you.

Secondly, he was also a giant wuss when it came to being outside by himself at night. He could hold his own in a fight, but he didn’t want to have to fight if it came down to it. He knew he should leave, though.

“I should get going and let you get some sleep…” He says while fighting a giant yawn.

You were quiet at first, so he started to get up from the couch.

“Stay here.”

He freezes midway off the couch and looks back at you. “What?” Did you just ask him to stay? The night? With you?

He could see the dumbfounded look on your face like you couldn’t believe what you had just said. “Um yeah, you should stay here. It’s not safe outside this late…”

He was debating if this was a good idea or not, and he knew it probably wasn’t, but you had to start somewhere, right? Friends stayed over at friends’ houses all the time. He practically lived here when he could get away with it.

“Well, if it’s okay with you, that’d be great….” He hesitantly says, deciding on an answer.


	22. Part 11

When you wake up the next day, the realization that you had fallen asleep in Chanyeol’s arms hits you, and, really, you weren’t mad about it. You laid there, taking in the sensation of his warm arms wrapped around your body. Your face was buried in his chest, and you could feel his heart calmly beating.

Wanting to enjoy the moment, you stay still, not sure when you would feel his arms wrapped around you like this again. You slowly look up towards Chanyeol’s sleeping face, wanting to take everything in, but are startled when you meet a pair of eyes. Chanyeol was awake and looking down at you.

You jump back in surprise, not expecting him to be awake. The only thing that kept you from falling backward off the couch was Chanyeol’s arms. You look back at him awkwardly.

“Breakfast?” You squeak out, wanting to break up the intense air that had quickly filled the room.

He slowly nods and answers in one of the sexiest morning voices you’ve ever heard. “I’ll help…”

Needing to get away from him before you did something that completely threw out the “we need to work on our friendship” talk the two of you just had last night, you try to get up. When you realize you can’t move, you look down at the reason why. You were still locked in Chanyeol’s embrace.

“Umm… Chan…”

He follows your gaze down to his arms that are currently wrapped around your torso. “Oh! Right!” He exclaims, laughing awkwardly while pulling his arms away from you. You instantly miss the contact, but you push that feeling outside of your mind.

The two of you got to work on making breakfast, cooking seamlessly together just like before. This was just another menial task that you two had done for years, knowing who was best at making what. You usually just made the toast and let Chanyeol do the rest. He normally wouldn’t let you contribute in any other way anyway.

“So, uh, did you like it?”

You freeze your movements, hand halfway to the butter. You were confused about what he was asking. Was he talking about the couch?

“Like what?”

“Me having my arms around you…”

You roll your eyes and continue on your trek for butter. “Chan, it’s not something new. We used to do it all the time.”

“I know, but… now it’s different. Isn’t it?…”

You had to admit he was right. It was all different now. You wanted nothing more than to drag him back to the couch and crawl back into his arms, but you were a responsible adult, so that’s exactly what you weren’t going to do. You certainly were not going to let him know the effect it had on you either, so instead, you threw a kitchen towel at him. See? Responsible adult.

He turns to you with wide eyes, spatula suspended in the air. “Why are you always throwing things at me?!”

“Hey. I haven’t thrown something at you in a very long time. It was overdue.”

You watch as he looks down at the eggs with a small smile on his face. The smile that always made your heart skip a beat.

————————————–

As time goes by, your life falls back into a routine that you were used to. You stay preoccupied with work, dance, and friends, and your friendship with Chanyeol was falling back into normalcy. After a month or so, you realized that he was starting to act exactly like he did a year ago, and you took it as a good sign. Everything felt right. It felt like you and Chanyeol could start a relationship, and everything would be okay still.

Ever since you and Chanyeol had begun focusing on your friendship, you were constantly communicating with each other. You were either texting all day or talking on the phone with each other, so you found it odd one day when you hadn’t heard from him at all. You were slightly worried, but you told yourself he was probably just busy with work, so you shifted your focus onto your plans for later.

Tonight, you were supposed to be having a relaxed night in with Yixing and Junmyeon, and you were excited to spend some time with them. Not wanting them to forget, you put the two in a group chat to make sure your plan was still happening.

You: Hey guys, just wanted to make sure we were still on for tonight!

You barely had a chance to put your phone down before you got a text back. Junmyeon responds right away, with an answer that both confuses and worries you. Why do you have a feeling you are about to get ditched?

Myeon: That’s tonight?!

You: We literally just talked about it two days ago…

This time, there was no quick response, which concerns you even more.

Myeon: Oh, right haha, you know how forgetful I can be.

No. Junmyeon was a lot of things, but he wasn’t forgetful. He was acting weird… and Yixing had been reading the texts but not responding, which that itself was worrying. He always responded to you when he got the chance. You had a bad feeling that something was wrong. First Chanyeol and now these two?

Your phone dings, pulling you from your thoughts.

Yixing: We’ll be there!

You stare at the text for a minute before an idea pops into your mind. You were gonna call Jia to see if she knew anything. Dialing her number, her phone rings for about 10 seconds before she answers.

“Be still my heart! You do remember that I exist!” She yells dramatically into the phone.

Rolling your eyes, you say, “Hello to you too.”

“That’s it? That’s all you have to say to your best friend who you haven’t talked to in ages?!” She asks in disbelief.

Her words make you instantly feel bad. You hadn’t seen Jia in a couple of weeks, and you knew you were neglecting her and failing in your best friend duties.

“Sorry, Jia… I know we haven’t talked in a while…”

“Which is exactly why we’re gonna have some best friend time tonight.” She responds, leaving no room for argument.

“Jia, I already have plans tonight…” You trail off, thinking about the plans you and the two boys made for tonight.

You hear her take a deep breath. “I swear to god, if you say it’s with a member of EXO, I’ll scream.” Your lack of response tells her everything she needs to know. “Y/N! I’ve hardly seen you! You’re always with someone else! I’m claiming my best friend back. Screw them.”

“What about tomorrow night?” You ask, not really wanting to break plans with the other two, although they did seem to forget about you.

There was no sound for a moment, which was completely out of character for Jia. Then you hear her quiet response. “Did you know that Jongin asked me to be his girlfriend?”

Eyes widening, you sit up in your seat in shock. “What?! When?!”

“A week ago.”

Your stomach drops. They’d been together for a week, and you didn’t even know… Wow, you really were being a shit friend. At that exact moment, you knew you were canceling on the boys. You needed to spend some time with Jia.

“Jia, I’m so sorry… I hadn’t realized…”

She’s quiet for a moment before she replies, “It’s okay… so do I get you for the night?…”

“Yes. Absolutely. I am yours.” You answer without hesitation.

“Good. Do you wanna go out to dinner at that new restaurant? I hear they’re good.”

“Sounds good to me!” You excitedly respond, suddenly anxious to see your best friend. If you missed that massive piece of news, what else had you missed?

“Awesome! So, let’s meet at the restaurant at 8? Oh, and dress nice! I don’t want to have dinner with you if you look like a slob!”

You roll your eyes. Not sure if you’re rolling them because of what she had just said to you or the thought of dressing up.

“How nice?” You ask wearily.

“A dress. For sure.” She quickly responds.

“A dress? For dinner with you?” You whine, but quickly relent because you definitely owe her one. “Fiiiiiine.”

“Good choice. See you soon!” You hear the phone click and let out a sigh. Immediately reopening your group message, you type out a quick text to Junmyeon and Yixing.

You: Sooo… about tonight… I’m gonna have to cancel…

Yixing responds almost instantly. 

Yixing: Why??

You: Jia asked me out for dinner, and it’s been a long time since I’ve seen her…

Responses from both males popped up, almost too quickly. Making you suspicious all over again and reminding you that you forgot to ask Jia what the heck was going on.

Myeon: That’s okay!

Yixing: We can do it another night!

You were tired of wondering what they were up to, so you decide to ask them directly if something was going on.

You: Is everything okay? You guys are acting weird…

Yixing: Everything is fine, little one.

Myeon: Don’t worry about us!

Looking through the texts, you don’t believe them at all, but it was already almost 6, and you had to get ready for dinner. Letting go of the suspicions you now held, you went to your closet to pull out an outfit. Jia wanted you to dress up and look nice? Well, okay, but she asked for it.

You decide on a form-fitting, black dress that ended a little bit above the knee. It had long, lace sleeves and made you feel, quite frankly, hot. You paired it with black peep-toe heels and put your hair in a braided bun, pulling out hairs to frame your face. You put on a light dusting of makeup and stand back to admire yourself in the mirror. There Jia. How’s that for dress nice?

You leave your apartment and head to the restaurant, arriving at almost exactly 8. Pleased that you made good time, you walk into the restaurant, and your breath immediately gets caught. The restaurant was beautiful and elegant in every definition of the words. You were extremely glad that Jia made you dress up now and made a mental note to thank her when you saw her.

“Can I help you?”

You glance over to your left, finding a hostess standing next to you. “Hi, I’m just waiting for a friend to show up…”

She smiles brightly at you. “Is your friend a girl? I believe her name was Jia?” You nod. “Great! She’s here already. If you follow me, I’ll show you to the table.”

Surprise washes over you. Jia was already here? She was usually the one always running late. Maybe Jongin was helping her in more ways than one. Following the hostess to the table, you take the opportunity to glance around the restaurant some more, truly taking in its beauty.

You look back at the hostess just in time to see that she stopped at a table. She turns back to you with a smile and extends her arm towards your seat. You thank her as she steps back and turn to look at Jia. Only to see it’s not Jia in front of you. Your eyes widen at the unexpected person smiling at you.

“Chanyeol?”


	23. Part 12

The hostess steps back, and you vaguely remember hearing, “Have a nice dinner”, but you were so caught up with the man in front of you, you couldn’t be sure. Park Chanyeol was standing across from you with a giant smile on his face. You took in his appearance, and damn he looked good. He was wearing a fitted, black suit that was unbuttoned at the collar, beautifully showing off the top of his collarbone. His hair was mostly swept off to the side, except for a lock in the front, which created a comma shape on his forehead.

Your heart was beating wildly, and all you could do was stare at the handsome man in front of you. “What is this, Chan?”

“A surprise,” he responds in his deep voice.

He winks as he walks toward you and pulls out your chair. You lightly sit down, and he pushes you in like a gentleman. As he was seating himself, you finally pull yourself out of the shock that had taken over your body and begin to process what was happening.

“My, Jia, you’ve changed.” You tease, making Chanyeol bark out a laugh. “So, did you and her plan this?”

“I may have had some help,” he says, nodding. “Jia, Yixing, Junmyeon… I asked them to help me find a way to surprise you.”

Everything clicks into place in an instant. Now you understood the weird text messages from the boys. “I thought they were acting odd!” You half-shout, momentarily forgetting you were in a fancy restaurant. “Wait, so is this why you haven’t responded to me all day?”

He shyly nods. “I was getting everything ready and then trying not to freak out the rest of the time.”

His words, and the thought he put behind everything, warmed you. “You know… you could’ve just asked me to dinner…”

“Yeah, but where’s the fun in that?” He smirks. “Plus, I want this night to be special, something we’ll remember forever.”

Your heart skips a beat at his words. It was like an unspoken promise that something was going to happen tonight. “Chanyeol, you’ve gone soft on me…”

“I’ve always been soft, especially when it comes to you…” He lowly says while maintaining eye contact, causing you to blush at his words.

While you order and when your food arrives, you both make teasing conversation, not getting into anything too deep and just enjoying each other’s company. Dinner ends up being delicious and goes by way faster than you want it to.

“Wow, I’ve never been so sad for a dinner to be over with…”

Chanyeol gives you a small smile. “And why is that?”

“Because I’m not ready for us to go our separate ways yet…” You quietly answer, hoping you didn’t cross some imaginary line the two of you had drawn.

“Oh, my dear, Y/N… This night is just getting started.” You feel your heart pick up speed for, what felt like, the 15th time since you sat down.

You watch as Chanyeol stands up and holds his hand out towards you, without saying a word. You take his hand without a thought.

“Where are we going?”

He remains silent, and when he doesn’t answer, you ask another question. “Is this another surprise?”

He smirks. “No, I’m just not going to tell you.”

While you are walking to the hidden destination, you realize that Chanyeol never let go of your hand. You can’t stop the wide smile that spreads on your face. You felt giddy, like a school girl all over again.

The two of you walk for about 5 minutes before you grasp where he is taking you. It was the park where the two of you had met up over a month ago to try to talk out your problems. Only this time, the trees surrounding the park were lit up with string lights. It looked like a fairy tale park, and it took your breath away.

You glance over at him in awe. “Chanyeol… how did you do this?”

When he looks back at you, you can tell he took no part in lighting up the park. He had just as awed of an expression as you. “Magic?”

You laugh at his attempt to take credit. “This wasn’t you, was it?”

He shyly smiles at you, knowing he was caught. “No… but thank you to whoever did it…”

You feel Chanyeol gently tug you into the park, and the two of you begin to casually stroll through it hand-in-hand. You had no words to describe how nice this felt, but the butterflies in your stomach were fluttering all over the place. You wondered where this was going to lead.

For the majority of the walk, the two of you had stayed mostly silent, enjoying the night air and quiet companionship. Chanyeol was the one to break the silence.

“Do you remember when I said I thought we’d be perfect together?” He quietly asks, causing your heart to skip a beat at his words.

“Yeah, I do,” you reply just as quietly. “But I also remember you saying you loved Daeun more…”

He sighs and closes his eyes. When he opens them again, he pulls you to sit down on the bench the two of you were approaching. “I wish I never said that to you. I was just trying to convince myself that it would be better if I said that since I was with her.”

He pauses and turns towards you. At this point, your heart was beating so hard it almost hurt.

“Enough about her. I want us. I want you. I want you when you’re cranky, when you’re smiling, when you're throwing things at me, when you cry during animal movies, and even when you wake up with bad breath.” You start to protest his last statement, but he quickly covers your mouth with his hand. “I’m not done yet... I don’t want to wait any longer. I already wasted a year. I’m not gonna waste anymore.”

He removes his hand from your mouth and gently places it on your cheek. You search his gaze before your own slowly falls from his eyes down to his lips. Both of you lean forward, each wanting this as much as the other.

When your lips finally meet, it’s different than any other kiss you’ve shared. It’s gentle and caring like you were both showing all your vulnerable feelings to each other. His lips were soft from the lip balm he had put on after dinner, and they moved against yours like they were made for each other. It was a sweet, long overdue kiss that you didn’t want to end.

Chanyeol pulls away and rests his forehead against yours. He takes a deep breath and looks into your eyes. “Will you be my girlfriend?”

You feel your heart soar in your chest. You never thought you would hear that question come from Chanyeol. You had always hoped, but this was it, it was finally happening, and it was even better than you imagined.

You hold his gaze. “Yes, Chan, of course, I will.”

The look on his face is pure happiness and that feeling was reflected throughout your entire body.

“We’re finally doing this? I’m finally going to be able to make you happy and show you how much you mean to me…?”

You nod and smile up at him. “So, do you have anything else planned for the night?”

He leans back, pausing at your question. “I was kind of leaving that to you…” You tilt your head and laugh at the awkward expression on his face. “Well, I didn’t know what your answer would be!”

“You goof. How could you not?”

He smiles sheepishly at you. “I just didn’t want to jinx anything…”

“Well, what would your answer be to going back to my place?” You shyly ask, not really implying anything, but if something did happen, you definitely wouldn’t be upset by it.

He stands up and holds his hand out to you for the second time tonight, a giant grin breaking out onto his face. “Let’s go, girlfriend.”

You grab his hand and grin while he pulls you up. “Alright, boyfriend.” You both pause and look at each other.

“We’re not gonna be that couple, are we?” He looks at you.

You shake your head. “No, absolutely not.”

When you get back to the apartment, Chanyeol wastes no time in making it clear what he wants. As soon as you shut the front door, he slowly backs you up against it and kisses you with a passion you’ve never seen before.

His kiss sweeps you into a whirlwind of emotions, and when he picks you up and wraps your legs around his waist, you are a goner. He carries you straight to your bedroom, his lips magically never leaving yours, and the two of you stay in there for hours, your bodies melding together over and over again.

Once the two of you were too exhausted to move, you lay there in your bed, wrapped up in each other’s bodies. Each of you sticky with sweat, but neither of you caring enough to do anything about it. You were content and happier than you’ve ever been.

You both had been silent, wanting to live in this moment forever. Chanyeol was lightly rubbing your back with his free hand while your head laid on his naked chest. You feel his hand stop, and he slowly brings it up to your face, cupping your cheek. You look up at the man you’ve adored for so many years.

“I love you,” he quietly says. “I should’ve said it a year ago and saved us both the heartache… I know it sounds cliché, but it always felt like a piece of me was missing, and I’m sorry it took me so long to realize it was you…”

He was being so corny, but he was finally telling you how he truly felt, and you couldn’t be happier.

You place your hand over his and smile at him. “I love you too, Chanyeol.”


	24. Part 12 (Chanyeol's POV)

“Hyung, help me. I am freaking out.” Chanyeol nearly shouted into the phone.

“Chanyeol, calm down. Everything is going to be completely fine.” Junmyeon tried to calm him down. His voice carrying across Chanyeol’s apartment through the speakerphone.

“What if I forgot something? What if I mess this up? What if – “

“Chanyeol. Breathe.” Chanyeol stopped his rant and listened to the older man by trying to take some calming breaths. “There. Are you feeling better?”

“No.”

Junmyeon sighed. “Let’s go over everything again, but Chanyeol, this is the last time. If you didn’t remember it the other five times, you won’t remember it now.”

Chanyeol nodded, forgetting Junmyeon couldn’t see him through the phone. “Okay, so Jia is going to call her and invite her out to that new fancy restaurant she’s been wanting to try, and when she shows up, I’ll be there instead. We’ll have a nice dinner, and then I’ll somehow find a way to walk her over to the park for a nice little stroll. Then, when the time is right, I’ll ask her to be my girlfriend.”

“Sounds like you got it covered, Chanyeol. I think tonight will be completely fine.”

Yixing, who had been sitting on Chanyeol’s couch listening, nodded his head. “Really, all you have to do is make sure Jia gets her to go out. Everything else you have handled.” He paused for a moment in thought before he asked, ”You called and made a reservation, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, that’s all set for 8, and Jia knows the time already.”

“Did Jia say how she was going to get Y/N to go out?” Junmyeon asked.

Chanyeol heard a ping come from Yixing’s phone, and before he could answer Junmyeon’s question, Yixing interrupted him.

“Um, Junmyeon. I think we forgot something.”

Chanyeol heard Junmyeon suck in a breath, and he started to feel very nervous.

“Oh crap, how did we forget that?!”

Chanyeol couldn’t take it anymore. “What? What’s happening?”

Yixing rubbed the back of his neck. “I guess the two of us were so wrapped up in helping you plan this, we forgot we had plans tonight with Y/N.”

Chanyeol just stared at the older man and tried to comprehend what he was telling him. “You what?”

Junmyeon sighed. “I completely forgot… Well, we’re just going to have to cancel on her…”

“We can’t just cancel on her the day of. That’s rude.” Yixing argued.

Junmyeon was quiet, thinking of a way for this to work out. Chanyeol sat back, listening to the two men talk. He had been bugging them for ideas and thoughts on the date for days, and he felt kind of bad for making them forget their plans with you. He also felt bad that they were going to cancel on you, but not bad enough that he was going to stop them.

“Maybe Jia can talk her into hanging out,” Chanyeol suggested.

Yixing looked over at him, considering his words. “She can be pretty persuasive.”

“Call her up and tell her the plan.” Junmyeon urged him so they could get out of canceling on you.

Chanyeol tried to call Jia, but it went straight to voicemail. He sighed, frustrated. “She’s not answering.”

The boys debated about what they would do if they couldn’t get ahold of Jia, but thankfully she called him back a couple minutes later. When he told her about his idea, Jia was more than thrilled to help him get you to the restaurant, nearly screaming in his ear ideas of what he should do.

The universe must’ve been helping Chanyeol out in some major ways too because the timing of his call could not have been more perfect. Just as Jia had agreed to help him, you started calling her for whatever reason, and she hung up with him to start working on you.

The boys anxiously awaited for any news from either of the two girls, and Chanyeol was starting to work himself up again over the thought of Jia not being able to pull it off.

Nearly twenty minutes had passed when he heard Yixing’s phone go off again. “Is it her?”

He nodded. “Jia is scary good. Y/N just canceled on us.”

Chanyeol was thrilled. Now, he knew you would have plans with Jia, and everything should go just fine. His phone started ringing not long after that. Glancing at the caller ID, he immediately answered.

“Jia, you are the best.” He said, not even bothering to say hello.

“I’m well aware of that, thank you. Would you mind telling me how two of the people who have been helping you plan this just happened to forget they had plans with her already?” Yixing looked sheepishly down at the floor.

“It doesn’t even matter if everything is all set. Is it?” Chanyeol asked. He was grateful to the two older members for helping him, so he wasn’t even remotely upset that they forgot.

“8 o’clock at the restaurant. She’s even going to dress up nice, and now that my work is done, I’m going to go back to kissing Jongin.”

Chanyeol rolled his eyes at her comment. “Thanks for helping, Jia. I owe you.”

“Oh, don’t worry, I’ll collect. And Chanyeol? Please treat my best friend like the queen she is. Make this night memorable for her, in a good way.”

“Absolutely. I’ll do everything in my power to make sure she has a great night.” He couldn’t keep the smirk off his face due to the innuendo he threw at her.

Jia was quiet on the phone, considering his words. “I feel like… I didn’t need to hear you say that…”

“Yeah, well I didn’t need to hear about you and Jongin.”

She laughed. “Fair enough. Good luck!” Jia hung up the phone, and Chanyeol finally felt like everything was in place.

Yixing hung up with Junmyeon before he stood up from the couch. “Well, everything seems under control, so I’m going to take off.”

Chanyeol stood up and walked him to the door. “Thanks, hyung for all of your help and for canceling your plans with Y/N.”

Yixing nodded. “I’m just happy you’re finally making a move, and I know I don’t have to tell you to treat her well, right?”

“Of course not, hyung.”

“Then good luck tonight.”

After Yixing left, Chanyeol had a little time to kill, which lead to him freaking out over nothing. Everything was planned, and the date should go smoothly, but he couldn’t stop himself from running through every scenario possible. Even the outrageous ones that made no sense.

He had seen a couple of texts from you earlier, but there was no way he could reply to you and not blabber everything he was thinking. He laid his head back against the couch and let his mind wander. He thought about everything he had set up and everyone who had helped him along the way. He even thought back to last night and the conversation he had with Baekhyun.

\-------------------------------------------------------

“Chanyeol… what’s up, man?” Baekhyun asked, surprised that Chanyeol was at his apartment.

“Hey, I was hoping we could talk…”

His vague words caused Baekhyun to look worried. He let Chanyeol into the apartment and closed the door behind him. “You alright?”

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine. I’m sorry if I worried you or anything. I just had something I wanted to ask you.”

“Alright, shoot.” Baekhyun followed him to the couch and sat down, offering him a quizzical stare.

“You know how much you mean to me, Baek. You are my best friend and brother, and I never want anything to change that.” Chanyeol could tell that his words were starting to really worry Baekhyun, but he continued anyway. “You also know how much I care about Y/N, just like I know how much you care about her. That’s why I wanted to ask for your consent to me asking her to be my girlfriend.” Chanyeol blurted the carefully thought out words. He was completely nervous about this entire conversation, but he needed Baekhyun to be okay with what he was going to do.

Baekhyun sat there, quietly regarding his words. “You’re asking for my permission to date her?” Chanyeol nodded a yes. “Why?”

“Because our relationship is important to me. I don’t want to do anything to mess that up, but I also really want to be with her.” He paused, weighing his next words carefully. “I’m only going to ask her out if you are completely okay with it. If it’s going to bother you or hurt you, in any way, then I won’t.” The words pained him to say, but he knew it would be the right thing to do. For Baekhyun. For the members. For EXO.

Baekhyun stared at him, multiple emotions flitting across his face. Chanyeol caught a few: surprise, respect, sadness. There were also a few that he couldn’t quite label though, and he didn’t know what to make of that.

After what felt like hours, but was probably only minutes, Baekhyun gave him a response.

“You have my blessing, Chanyeol.”

Chanyeol was flooded with relief. He really had no idea how he was going to take it if he had said no. Chanyeol wanted to be with you too badly.

“Thank you… for asking me. It was a very moving thing for you to do that, but you didn’t have to. I wouldn’t keep you two apart... not after everything that you’ve been through. You both deserve this, and I know she’ll say yes.”

Chanyeol could feel his eyes start to burn from the tears they wanted to shed. He had no words, so he pulled Baekhyun into a hug and said the only thing he could. “Thank you.”

\-------------------------------------------------------

Chanyeol felt relieved after getting Baekhyun’s permission. He knew it seemed kind of pointless or old school, but Baekhyun was worth too much to him, and he didn’t want to hurt him at all.

Before Chanyeol knew it, it was time for him to go to the restaurant. He had to arrive early because he knew that sometimes you got there earlier than you needed to be, and he wanted to take you by surprise.

He had it all set up with the hostess. He asked her if she would play along, and she gladly accepted. She would pretend that he was Jia and hide his body from your line of sight on the walk over to the table. Now, he just had to hope his plan went well.

When it was 8 o’clock on the dot, Chanyeol looked up to see the hostess heading towards him. He rubbed his suddenly sweating palms on his dress slacks and stood slightly bent so he could hide and not tower over the hostess walking towards him. When the hostess moved, the look on your face was one of complete shock. Chanyeol would’ve laughed if he wasn’t so nervous, so he settled for a giant smile.

His dinner plans went perfect, and when you told him that you weren’t ready for the night to end, Chanyeol jumped at the opportunity to take you for a walk. This was when he had planned on asking you out.

As the two of you were strolling through the park, Chanyeol was trying to think of a way to start the conversation, but nothing seemed good enough, so he went with the first thing that came to his mind.

“Do you remember when I said I thought we’d be perfect together?” He asked you quietly.

“Yeah, I do.” You replied just as quietly. “But I also remember you saying you loved Daeun more…”

He sighed and closed his eyes. This was the worst way he could’ve started the conversation! He probably would’ve had a better chance if he just flat out asked you!

Regret filled him for bringing her back into your memory. “I wish I never said that to you. I was just trying to convince myself that it would be better if I said that since I was with her.”

“Enough about her. I want us. I want you. When you’re cranky, when you’re smiling, when you're throwing things at me, when you cry during animal movies, and even when you wake up with bad breath.” You attempted to protest his last statement, but he quickly brought his hand up to cover your mouth. “I’m not done yet... I don’t want to wait any longer. I already wasted a year. I’m not gonna waste anymore.”

When he kissed you, Chanyeol put everything he had into it. All his feelings and emotions wrapped up and sealed with a kiss. The way you were kissing him back gave him hope you would say yes to the question he was about to ask.

He took a deep breath and looked into your eyes. “Will you be my girlfriend?”

You held his gaze. “Yes, Chan, of course, I will.”

He could feel the smile growing on his face. His entire body vibrating with happiness. “We’re finally doing this? I’m finally going to be able to make you happy and show you how much you mean to me…?”

You nodded and smiled at him, and at that moment, Chanyeol was truly happy.


	25. Final

The next day, you wake up wrapped up in Chanyeol’s arms, and you couldn’t even begin to describe how content you were. He was lazily rubbing his hand up and down your arm, feeling just as content as you. The two of you were finally together after all these years, and it felt right.

“Morning jagi,” Chanyeol speaks, breaking the peaceful silence.

You smile at the new name. “Good morning.”

“I’m so happy right now. I want to wake up next to you every day for the rest of my life.” He says, with an answering smile on his face.

“Then let’s do that.” You reply, feeling your heart fluttering. You hear him hum an agreement next to you. “You don’t have to leave today, do you? I want to stay in here all day.”

“Even though that is one of the most tempting offers I’ve ever heard, I have a meeting to go to today.” You groan with sadness, not wanting him to leave. “Plus, I was thinking… Maybe we should have dinner with the guys and Jia to tell them about us…” He nervously suggests. “But I don’t know if you’re ready to tell people…”

You consider his words. It was very, very early in the relationship, and it was still such a new, fragile thing, but the two of you had put your friend group through the wringer over the past couple of months. It was only fair that they were told about this new development. “I think it’s a good idea, Chan. They’re gonna find out sooner or later… But… Can I tell Baekhyun? By myself?”

Chanyeol thinks about it for a moment. You wonder if maybe he should tell him since they were so close, but you wanted Baekhyun to know from you. Especially since, a couple of months ago, he confessed his feelings for you.

Chanyeol agrees that you can be the one to tell him, and you almost immediately roll over and grab your phone. You pull up his contact and quickly text him.

You: Morning bacon! Want to go grab lunch today?

You wait a little bit for a response.

Baek: Lunch with you? Absolutely! When and where??

You: That café in between my place and the dorms?? In an hour?

Baek: See you there! 😊

You tell Chanyeol that you’re all set for lunch, and he tells you not to worry about dinner because he “had it covered”, but really that only made you worry more. Not long after your plans are set, he takes off to get ready for the meeting, and you start to get ready for your lunch date.

You throw on a cute, casual sweater and leggings and leave your hair down in its natural state. When you get to the café, you see you’ve made it first, since Baekhyun’s not in his normal seat. None of the boys sat near the windows, in case someone recognized them, so you head straight to the back, knowing he’d find you. You order both yours and his favorite drinks and patiently wait for him to arrive.

When he walks in, you notice him immediately, even with his black hat pulled down to cover his face. You could tell by his demeanor that something was wrong or he was sad, and a part of you wondered if he had a feeling about what you were going to tell him.

When he sits down in front of you and pulls his face mask down, you can see that he is trying to hide something from you. It only takes seconds for you to figure out that Baekhyun already knows.

You give him a small smile, which he returns. “Hey Baek…”

“Hey, little one…”

You pause and look at him. “I’m guessing you know what I’m going to say…”

He nods at you before his eyes trail down to the coffee you got him. It takes him a moment to gather his thoughts before he looks back up at you. “I have a good feeling, but I still want to hear you say it…”

You meet his eyes, nervous to tell him but needing to get it out. “Chanyeol asked me to be his girlfriend, and I said yes…”

He holds your gaze for a couple of seconds, and then quietly says, “I’m happy for you, both of you. I genuinely am.”

“Baek, I’m sorry…”

You see a look cross his face, but you are surprised when you recognize it as annoyance.

“What? Don’t be sorry. Don’t ever apologize for something you want.”

“Yeah, but – “

“Don’t.” He interrupts you. “I’ll be fine, so I don’t want you to worry about me.” You stay silent, and he sighs. “Y/N, you’re my best friend, and I love you. Both of you... Yes, I had a little crush on you... but that changed when I saw how much you wanted to be with Chanyeol. I just want the two of you to be happy, and if being together makes you happy, then good.”

It takes everything in you to not crawl across the table and hold Baekhyun like your life depended on it. Sometimes he was just too perfect, but a part of you still felt guilty.

“Are you sure? You’re not upset at all?”

“I am absolutely not upset. A little jealous that Chanyeol gets such a great girl, but he deserves it. Even if he thinks he doesn’t.” You start to tear up at his words. Baekhyun was the great one. “Yah, knock it off! People are going to think I’m being mean to you!”

His sudden shout startles you into laughter. “Whoever gets to be with you, Baek, is going to be really lucky.”

He leans back with a smirk on his face. “Yeah, you missed out.”

A question that had been on your mind since he walked into the cafe suddenly comes out of your mouth. “How did you find out? Did you help him plan it too?”

“You think Chanyeol can keep a secret?” He laughs. “He actually pulled me aside a couple days ago and asked me if I was okay with it.”

A wave of pride for your boyfriend washes over you. “He really did that?”

“He’s a good guy, Y/N, and he’s my brother. He wanted to make sure I would be okay with it before he did anything. I guess my partner isn’t the only lucky one.” He winks at you.

You spend the next few hours with Baekhyun, laughing and joking around. This was it. This was how you wanted life to be. Happy, relaxed, and carefree.

When it’s time for dinner, Baekhyun and you show up to the dorms together. The rest of the boys and Jia were already there, and Chanyeol seemed to be the only one missing.

Everyone was confused as to what was so special, but they weren’t complaining because they knew they were getting free food. You were sure Yixing, Junmyeon, and Jia already had a good idea as to why they were there, but they weren’t going to steal your thunder.

Not long after you arrive, Chanyeol walks in, along with a helper, carrying bags full of food. The smell of meat and other delicious things wafts through the room and you look over at the boys to see their jaws drop in hunger.

“Is that… chicken?” Jongin asks, walking towards the kitchen. You stifle a laugh. Of course, Jongin would be the one to notice the smell of chicken.

Chanyeol smirks. “Yes, Jongin, and it's from your favorite place.”

Jongin was immediately lost in the thought of chicken, but you notice some of the other boys were growing suspicious. Kyungsoo and Minseok were the first to speak up.

“Did you do something?”

“What’s so important that it warrants chicken?”

Chanyeol completely ignores them and continues taking everything out of the bags. You glance over at Yixing and Junmyeon, who were giving you knowing smiles. You smile back in return.

“Alright, what’s going on?” Sehun asks, tired of Chanyeol not saying anything.

Chanyeol sighs and stops unpacking the food. “I wanted to wait, but apparently, you’re all impatient today. I decided to treat everyone to dinner because I wanted you all here so I could tell you that Y/N and I are officially together.”

The room fell silent, and no one was willing to say a word. Jongdae and Minseok glance over at you and then back at Chanyeol. You almost wanted to laugh at their lack of reaction.

“You got us food to tell us this?” Sehun slowly asks.

You look over at Chanyeol and watch as his face slowly falls, sadness starting to show. You knew Chanyeol really wanted to tell everyone, and he was so sweet to tell the boys all at once and with food. He had such a big heart, and you could tell he was starting to feel let down at their reaction.

Thankfully, Sehun was also quick to notice. “Hyung! I’m just kidding! Congrats you two. It’s about freaking time.”

It was like Sehun’s words brought everyone out of a trance. You hear someone shout “finally!” and also a “yay”. Somewhere in the back, you can hear Jia screeching about how much stress we had put her through. You look around the room and feel warmth fill you when you notice everyone seems genuinely happy for the two of you.

“You mean, we won’t have to listen to any more whining from you guys? This is great.” Jongdae teases.

“I really don’t think you should say anything about whining,” Junmyeon says to him from the other side of the room.

You notice a couple of guys looking over at Baekhyun, who was still standing quietly next to you. It didn’t take long for everyone else to look over at him either. Baekhyun wraps his arm around your shoulders and pulls you into a side hug.

“I already know, and I’m very happy for them.” The guys continue to stare at him to make sure he is being serious. None of them wanted any bad blood in their group. “Seriously, guys, it’s all good.”

He pulls his arm away from you and walks over to Chanyeol. Everyone watches as they pull each other into a tight hug. You almost wanted to cry at their friendship until you hear the words Baekhyun says to Chanyeol.

“Congrats, man. Treat her well, or else I’ll steal her.”

Chanyeol lets out a loud laugh. “Yeah, that’s not gonna happen.”

Looking around the room, you see small smiles on all the boy's faces. It was a nice moment, and it was one that you were going to cherish for a long time. Especially when you remember Jongin’s next comment.

“So, can we eat now... or…?”


End file.
